Microsoft is killing MS Paint after 32 years, sort of [Update]

It looks Microsoft has plans to kill its historic MS Paint program when the Windows 10 Autumn Creators Update rolls out, which also adds a variety of new features to the operating system.

Paint, the app everyone used to doodle with when they were supposed to be doing school work, was originally introduced with Windows 1.0 in 1985. The program started its life as a 1-bit monochrome licensed version of ZSoft’s PC Paintbrush and it wasn’t until Windows 98 that the iconic software was even capable of saving a JPEG file.

With the last Windows 10 Creators Update, Microsoft introduced a new version of the app called Paint 3D, which allows both 2D and three-dimensional editing, so in a sense, paint will still live on to some extent.

Alongside apps like Outlook Express, Reader app and Reading List, Microsoft Paint has been added to a list of “features that are removed or deprecated in Windows 10 Fall Creators Update.”

While Paint was never a particularly capable app, for many it served as a childhood introduction to using a mouse, as well as art programs in general. The most recent version of Paint for Windows 7 added a variety of new features to the program, but its functionality still wasn’t even up to par with free web-based paint apps, let alone Adobe’s Photoshop platform.

Pour one out for Paint.

Update 07/25/17: Microsoft has responded with the following statement about MS Paint:

“MS Paint is here to stay, it will just have a new home soon, in the Windows Store where it will be available for free.

For more information about MS Paint actually not being dead, follow this link.

Source: Microsoft Via: The Guardian