Time is running out for Microsoft Paint.
The venerable application that started its life 32 years ago as a monochrome, bitmap Windows 1.0 drawing program is on Microsoft's "Deprecated" list.
In an official Microsoft list of "Features that are removed or deprecated in Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, first spotted by The Guardian, Microsoft Paint is on the deprecated list. Microsoft defines "deprecated" as "might be removed from future releases."
News that Microsoft is moving on from Paint is not surprising. Microsoft demoted the long-time Windows App earlier this year when it released 3D Paint in the Windows 10 Creators Update, which rolled out to users earlier this year.
3D Paint includes many of Paint's original features in a completely new interface, but, as the name suggests, goes into another dimension, allowing budding artists to add 3D objects and imagery to their creations.
Paint's possible removal will pain some.
Paint may be the last still-in-use drawing application that was designed for mouse-only input (the current version is designed to also work with a Surface Pen). For those who use it, Paint is prized for its relative simplicity. 3D Paint looks like a simple app, but there's nothing quite like the basic joys of Paint. It's also one the last remaining threads leading all the way back to the dawn of Windows.
If you're running the latest version of Windows and you type "paint" in the Cortana bar, "Paint" is still the best match, with 3D Paint right below it.
This fall, however, that may change, and 3D Paint may take the top spot.
Deprecation doesn't necessarily mean Paint will disappear from the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, but classic Paint could get harder to find. Take, for example, Internet Explorer, Microsoft's old Web Browser. IE is still a part of Windows 10, but it's not on the task bar and Windows will default to opening web pages with the new Microsoft Edge browser.
Microsoft is removing a handful of other apps, services and toolkits, including the 3D Builder app, Outlook express (remember that?!), and Windows Powershell 2.0. Mashable has contacted Microsoft for comment and will update this post with their response.
Whatever Paint's fate in the Windows 10 Fall Creator's Update (or over the next few years), it's likely Paint will never see another update and could eventually be incompatible with future versions of Windows. That would be heartbreaking news for those who've used Paint to create -- considering the app's limitations -- remarkable pieces of bitmap art and dedicated galleries to Paint's classic brand of pixel-based art.
Let's take a moment to applaud the art of possible in MS Paint:
Update 7/24/2017 (6:34 p.m. ET): Microsoft sent Mashable the following statement:
"MS Paint is not going away. In addition to the new 3D capabilities, many of the MS Paint features people know and love like photo editing and 2D creation are in Paint 3D - the new app for creativity, available for free with the Windows 10 Creators update. 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."
Topics Windows Innovations
