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> 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> 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> Microsoft has responded to an outpouring of online grief over the reported phasing out of its app Paint from future versions of Windows, saying the app will still be available - but on the Windows Store.

On Monday (July 24), reports said Microsoft Paint - the long-standing basic graphics editing app that is a staple for Windows users - would be killed off.

The program, first released in 1985 with the first version of Windows 1.0, was said to be slated for removal in the Windows 10 Fall Creators update, The Guardian reported on Monday.

Microsoft included Paint in a list of features that would be deprecated - or removed in future releases - on its website.

Netizens reacted with memes - made aptly with Paint - mourning the end of the program.

However, Microsoft later clarified in a blog post on its website saying: "The original art app isn't going anywhere - except to the Windows Store for free!"

Wrote Megan Saunders, general manager for the 3D for Everyone Initiative under Windows Experiences: "Today, we've seen an incredible outpouring of support and nostalgia around MS Paint. If there's anything we learned, it's that after 32 years, MS Paint has a lot of fans. It's been amazing to see so much love for our trusty old app."

She wrote: "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."

However, it appears that the app will not come pre-installed in Windows 10 Creators Update versions.

Instead, a new free Paint 3D app will come built-in with the update. </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> 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> Microsoft Paint isn't dead yet, after all.

Following an outcry from fans on Monday, Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30) said the app will soon land in the Windows Store for free.

"In the future, we will offer MS Paint in the Windows Store also for free, and continue to provide new updates and experiences to Paint 3D so people have the best creative tools all in one place," a Microsoft spokesperson told CNN Tech late Monday night.

Paint was on Microsoft's list of "deprecated" features for future software releases, which means it's "not in active development" and could be removed soon.

Related: Microsoft takes on Apple with new $999 Surface Laptop

The program was released in 1985 with the first version of Windows 1.0. It has been installed with every version of Windows since.

Microsoft said in a blog post it saw an "incredible outpouring of support and nostalgia around MS Paint" on Monday and that the program is "here to stay."

As of last year, the app still had over 100 million monthly users.

While Paint will be available for download from the Windows Store, that's not the same as being a core part of Windows. This could be problematic for employees using work computers, who may not have administrative privileges to install apps like Paint from the Windows Store.

Moving forward, Paint 3D will come installed on current and future versions of Windows. Microsoft unveiled the spinoff drawing app last October and says it has integrated many of MS Paint's main functions into the program.
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.