Microsoft has announced plans to kill off its long-running Paint drawing tool after more than 30 years in use.

The basic drawing tool has been a part of the tech giant's Windows software since 1985, but has now been added to a list of programs Microsoft is no longer actively developing and could be removed in future updates.

In an announcement on the company's support website, Microsoft Paint has been added to a list of "deprecated" programs ahead of the roll out of the next major Windows update in the autumn, known as the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update.

"This list is intended to help customers consider these removals and deprecations for their own planning," Microsoft said of its planned removals.

"The list is subject to change and may not include every deprecated feature or functionality."

The 3D Builder app and the Outlook Express email client are also on the list of programs to be cut.

Microsoft Paint has appeared in every version of Microsoft Windows since Windows 1.0 launched in the mid-1980s and despite limited functionality remained a popular tool for quick image editing and creation processes.

In the tech giant's most recent upgrade, the Windows 10 Creators Update which was released in April, the firm introduced Paint 3D, a new upgraded image creation tool that enables users to build 3D images and designs for the first time.

It appeared alongside the traditional Paint software and is likely seen as a long-term replacement for the original program.</s>5 Reasons Why We Should Give MS Paint a Chance

While the rest of us were doodling around in Microsoft Paint after school in the 90s, one artist made a full-blown career out of it. Yes, you read that right.

“It feels like losing an old friend.” That’s how Australian artist Miranda Lorikeet took the news that Microsoft will stop updating the painting program as part of the Windows 10 update.

“This morning I received a barrage of messages from all around the world, people asking me, ‘Miranda, have you heard!? MS Paint is dead!’” she says.

Although Microsoft announced MS Paint will still be available for free in the Windows Store, the accessibility of it won’t be the same, notes Lorikeet. She shares with us five reasons why she loves this program and how it’s made her work unique.

1. MS Paint is the most accessible program on the planet.

It’s available on almost every computer in the world. That means I can sit down at my local public library, at the airport computer lounge or at an internet cafe and just start drawing. With MS Paint being removed from the latest Windows update, this will no longer be the case (you will have to download it).

For other digital platforms, there is generally a “right” and “wrong” way of using the software. But there is no right or wrong way to use MS Paint. No one offers courses on how to correctly utilize it. With this program, you have total artistic freedom.

2. What you can’t do is what you CAN do in this program.

The limitations are what make it so special. Working with such limited tools and basic software makes you really push yourself creatively. It’s not so much what you can do with MS Paint, but what you can’t that makes it special.

3. There are no expectations of what you should be able to create with it.

Children use it. adults use it. It’s a great place to start drawing or, in my case, a great place to build your artistic style. It’s a wonderfully basic yet deeply complex program.

4. MS Paint forces you to think outside the box.

This painting program has taught me to value simplicity. The tools in the program play a huge part in making my drawings look the way they do. It’s become a key part of my artistic style: the way the brush auto-blurs; the way the pixels stretch and skew; the crappy resolution. These factors shape what has now become my signature style.

5. The love for it is loud!

With in a few hours, there was a Kickstarter campaign to save MS Paint, and I tried to start #saveMSpaint on Instagram this morning. It was heartwarming to see how many people all around the world care about this dinky, nostalgic program!

Check out more of Lorikeet’s work at her website, and read our original interview with her in this past issue of The Artist’s Magazine.

Oh, and don’t forget to use #saveMSpaint to keep this Microsoft staple alive for future kids to enjoy! (Hey, the 80s and 90s are back, right?)

You may also like these articles:
• How to Make a Plan For Painting Full-Time and Still Pay Your Bills
• Color Mixing for Acrylic: How to Master Shades of Green</s>Windows 10 users could see Microsoft Paint scrapped in an upcoming update

Microsoft Paint was launched more than 32 years ago, and is a staple of the PC experience - but it could soon be scrapped from Windows 10 by Microsoft.

An official support post on the upcoming Creators Update revealed Microsoft Paint has been on a list of “deprecated” Windows features.

This means the long-running graphics app is “not in active development and might be removed in future releases.”

Microsoft Paint was introduced way back with the very first version of Windows - Windows 1.0 - in November 1985.

At the time it only supported 1-bit monochrome graphics and used a proprietary MSP format.

In Windows 3.0, it was superseded by Paintbrush which featured a redesigned user interface and colour support.

Windows 95 also shipped with an updated version of Paint, while the Windows 98, Windows 2000 and Windows Me versions let users save JPEG, GIF and PNGs.

Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10 all launched with Microsoft paint.

The last three versions (7,8 and 10) featured a ribbon in its user interface and also offered an ‘artistic’ brush tool for the first time.</s>The writing’s on the wall: Microsoft has targeted the venerable Microsoft Paint app for extinction within Windows 10. In the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update due next month, Microsoft has classified Paint as “deprecated,” meaning that the app’s not in active development and might be removed in future releases.

Deprecation doesn't necessarily mean certain death. Microsoft deprecated the Edge browser’s Reading List with the Creators Update, yet that feature remains within the Insider version 16193 of the Fall Creators Update. But if Paint's deprecated it won't improve, which means the simple march of time could render it obsolete. On the other hand, the same support document formally removes the 3D Builder app and Outlook Express, which means they're just plain gone.

Paint was first introduced in Windows 1.0 in 1985, as a licensed version of ZSoft’s PC Paintbrush. Though Microsoft updated Paint over subsequent versions, such as adding support for JPEG, TIFF, and other file formats, its basic purpose has remained the same: a simple drawing tool and image editor.

The story behind the story: There's good reason to worry that Paint could move from "deprecated" to "disappeared," because it already has. The current Creators Update removes Paint if your version of Windows was written in Hindi or Swahili, though it remains supported in most Western European and Asian languages. Sometimes a quick-and-dirty solution is all that you really need, though,

We actually like Paint 3D. Microsoft’s wrong, however, if it believes Paint 3D serves as a direct replacement for Microsoft Paint. While it’s true that no “true” digital artist draws in Microsoft Paint, the same’s also true for Paint 3D. Like many apps within Windows (Notepad, Sticky Notes, People) Paint serves as a quick-and-dirty utility for resizing photos, doodling a quick picture, or hacking together a quick composite or mosaic of digital art. And if nothing else, the name should give you a clue: Paint’s a two-dimensonal (2D) app, while Paint 3D creators operate in three-dimensional space. Paint 3D is an excellent, fun app, but it's no replacement for Paint.

In fact, the 2D portion of Paint 3D, known as the Canvas, is probably the least intuitive portion of Paint 3D. The Canvas hangs out as a blank two-dimensional box that floats in space, though you can make it a 3D object if you choose. It’s a backdrop, nothing more. You can drop a photo on it, or doodle a bit of ink. But the point of the Canvas is to set off your digital 3D creations, not to serve as the workspace that Paint enables.

If Microsoft does remove Paint, it undercuts one of the chief arguments that it’s repeatedly made across several versions of Windows 10: modality. For years, a keyboard and mouse sufficed to interact with a PC. But with modern PCs, voice, touch, and pen supplement—not replace!—the traditional ways of doing things. Windows and the Command Line live in peace; why not Paint and Paint 3D?

Admittedly, Microsoft has extracted certain aspects of Paint, moved them elsewhere within Windows, and dramatically improved them. If you’d like to adjust your digital photos, you don’t do that within Paint—the Windows 10 Photos app does a marvelous job of auto-tuning your digital photo, or letting you adjust contrast, highlights and more. Microsoft’s own Fresh Paint app (sadly, not bundled with Windows 10) mimics the physical experience of painting with digital ink on a virtual canvas, even blending colors. Paint 3D hides a “magic select” tool to extract parts of an image from a background, a feature that would be terrific within Paint.

If Microsoft does remove Paint from Windows 10, there’s a pretty good replacement: Paint.net, one of PCWorld’s top products of 2007 and a free app that runs on Windows 10. While Paint.net retains the look and feel of Paint, it improves the capabilities by adding more sophisticated tools like layers.Of course, much more sophisticated—and expensive—graphics packages that go far beyond the basic appeal of Paint.</s>Microsoft has signaled the end of one of its most iconic and beloved applications.Drawing program and time-waster Paint has been deemed as "Deprecated" for the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update , meaning the program is "not in active development and might be removed in future releases."Paint was introduced in 1985 as a part of Windows 1.0. Microsoft introduced Paint 3D earlier this year as an update to Paint, allowing users to create "2D masterpieces or 3D models that you can play with from all angles."</s>Microsoft has announced plans to kill off its long-running Paint drawing tool after more than 30 years in use.

The basic drawing tool has been a part of the tech giant's Windows software since 1985, but has now been added to a list of programs Microsoft is no longer actively developing and could be removed in future updates.

In an announcement on the company's support website, Microsoft Paint has been added to a list of "deprecated" programs ahead of the roll out of the next major Windows update in the autumn, known as the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update.

"This list is intended to help customers consider these removals and deprecations for their own planning," Microsoft said of its planned removals.

"The list is subject to change and may not include every deprecated feature or functionality."

The 3D Builder app and the Outlook Express email client are also on the list of programs to be cut.

Microsoft Paint has appeared in every version of Microsoft Windows since Windows 1.0 launched in the mid-1980s and despite limited functionality remained a popular tool for quick image editing and creation processes.

In the tech giant's most recent upgrade, the Windows 10 Creators Update which was released in April, the firm introduced Paint 3D, a new upgraded image creation tool that enables users to build 3D images and designs for the first time.

It appeared alongside the traditional Paint software and is likely seen as a long-term replacement for the original program.</s>SAN FRANCISCO: Microsoft put out word that it would not abandon Paint after reports of its pending demise triggered a deluge of lament from fans of the pioneering drawing application.

"We've seen an incredible outpouring of support and nostalgia around MS Paint," Windows Experiences team general manager Megan Saunders said in a blog post late Monday (Jul 25).

"MS Paint has a lot of fans. It's been amazing to see so much love for our trusty old app."

While Paint will no longer be part of Windows operating system by default, it will be available free in the Windows Store and be updated by the US software powerhouse, according to Saunders.

The apparent shift in position came hours after Microsoft announced the end of days for Paint as it focuses on software for 3-D drawing.

Paint drawing and image processing software that made its debut in 1985 with the Windows operating system was among the applications listed as "removed or deprecated" in a Windows 10 Fall Creators Update set for release later this year.

For decades, Paint was among applications installed by default on Windows-powered personal computers and drew a strong following.

"In addition to the new 3D capabilities, many of the MS Paint features people know and love like photo editing, line, and curve tools, and 2D creation are in Paint 3D," Saunders said.</s>Technology giant Microsoft plans to get rid of one of its first famous features, Paint, in the new Windows 10 update released later this year.

Along with Outlook Express, the Reader app and Reader list on Windows 10, the original ‘Paint’ will be removed, with only the reinvented ‘Paint 3D’ to remain – not that it’s any comparison to the fun or looks of the one and only original Paint.

Launched in 1985, ‘Paint’ has touched the lives of Windows Users across the world during its time on our PC screens, so it’s no wonder the application is the talk of the town trending on Twitter and causing uproar as the announcement came about.

While it was far from the top dog in graphic design, it was an application used by the global population. In case you didn’t know just how much of an impact Paint had to the lives of the UK population, here’s a rundown of its life on Windows.

Let’s start at the very beginning…

Launching in 1985 on Windows 1.0, Paint was the staple built-in application to Windows that was used for children’s IT lessons around the world, creating the budding artists of the future (or so we all thought).

Though you probably don’t remember a time when black and white was a thing, that’s how Paint started out – it only featured monochrome graphics when it first came about 32 years ago.

It wasn’t until five years later; the world was miraculously painted in colour, allowing kids (and potentially adults) to choose from a colour pallet what their creation would be filled with that evening.

Before you knew it, Microsoft updated our beloved Paint with Windows 4 which let you save and load a custom set of colour wells boosting user creativity to a whole new level!

Take a picture, it will last longer

Compared to how Windows and the internet operates today, it’s hard to imagine a world without live videos, or SnapChat filters, let alone JPEGs being a standardized way to save an image. But crazily, this wasn’t common knowledge until 2000 when Paint installed the option, until it was later an automatic procedure later in Paints life.

Taking pictures on our iPhones and uploading them to our computers seems ‘old news’ now when we can just post them straight to social media, so it might come as a shock to hear it was 16 years ago that Microsoft Windows XP first made it accessible to upload images from a digital camera onto paint ready to edit. Something so simple was such a big step for the application, looking at software like Photoshop and After Effects, it’s unsurprising.

The real turnaround for Paint came with Windows 7, released in 2009, which allowed you to make up to 50 undo’s to your work, something the Leonardo Di Vinci aspirers of the 90s wouldn’t think of being able to do when making their masterpieces after school – but yes, this came as an addition to Paint, alongside more ‘artistic brushes’ and your imaginative paint bucket to run out of paint…I’m sure it was only meant to be fun, but it all seemed to have gotten so serious.

Learning something new every day – things you didn’t know about paint

There are things I’m sure users wouldn’t have even been aware you could do on paint, Stamp Mode? Trial mode? Regular Shapes? All things you could do on paint to make your picture even more fantastic, so get using those gadgets if you haven’t already before your time’s up!

Of course, in 2016 Microsoft brought paint ‘up to date’ with the creation of Paint 3D. This new version of the original Paint lets you create 3D pieces of art and bring them to life.

If it’s any consolation to Paint being axed, you do get to keep Paint 3D on your Windows devices, although I can’t see it being as fun as the original. The remakes never are.

Having being on our computer systems for over three decades, Paint is going to be sadly missed by the world population. But, there’s no official news on when Paint will cease to exist on our computers, but it’s speculated to be around October. So for now, pick up your paintbrush and make one last masterpiece!</s>After being around for 32 years and becoming one of the most recognized elements of the Windows operating system, Microsoft is planning to kill off graphics app Paint. The Redmond firm has threatened to depreciate the long-running program in the next Windows 10 update.

In a list of “Features that are removed or depreciated in Windows 10 Fall Creators Update,” Paint is one of the items classed as “not in active development and might be removed in future releases."

Paint started out as a 1-bit monochrome licensed version of ZSoft’s PC Paintbrush in the first version of Windows 1.0 in 1985. Having been around for over three decades, and with the introduction of Paint 3D in April’s Windows 10 Creators Update, it seems as if the program will soon become nothing more than part of Windows' history.

While it was far from best graphics app and pales in comparison to professional programs, it’s still used by millions for a bit of quick and easy editing.

System Image Backup (SIB) solution is also being depreciated. Microsoft is pointing users to “full-disk backup solutions from other vendors” as an alternative.

Windows features that are definitely being removed include Outlook Express, Reader App and Reader list (both being integrated into Edge), and encryption utility Syskey, which Microsoft says is insecure - it recommends people use BitLocker instead.

No official word yet on when Paint might be removed from Windows. We still don’t know the exact date when the Fall Creators Update will arrive, either, though it’s expected to roll out sometime this October.</s>The crude rainbows and stick figures of early personal computing will soon be forgotten.

Microsoft has marked its Paint program, a popular piece of software in the 1990s, for retirement. The company has said the program is no longer in active development, and may be phased out in coming updates. It signals the end of an early web aesthetic for a generation that came of age during the first days of computing at home.

The bitmap program, which let users draw crude shapes and doodles from a palette of bright default colors, debuted in 1985 with Windows 1.0. Paint has led to imaginative works of pixel art, but most people who remember using the program will recall the hours spent trying to manipulate a mouse to draw a non-lumpy circle.

“Images produced in MS Paint are often immediately identifiable by this ‘shittiness’ – erratic mouse-drawn lines, uneven edges, blocky dumps of color,” writes media studies grad student Patrick Davidson. The rough, low-tech imprecision of Paint was indeed part of its appeal, and its aesthetic has inspired early internet memes like flash animation “end of the world” and contemporary graphic memes like rage comics.

In an email Microsoft writes that Paint functions like “2D creation” are a part of Windows’ new app Paint 3D, which rolled out earlier this year. Though Paint will not receive updates, it will remain in the Microsoft app store for free.

This post has been updated to include comment from Microsoft.
Microsoft announces that Paint will cease to be updated after the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update because its functionality was "integrated into Paint 3D". Paint was first released 32 years ago.