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Microsoft Paint To Be Killed Off After 32 Years (theguardian.com)

Posted by msmash on from the end-of-road dept.

Microsoft's next Windows 10 update, called the Fall Creators Update, will bring a variety of new features. But one long-standing stalwart of the Windows experience has been put on the chopping block: Microsoft Paint. From a report: First released with the very first version of Windows 1.0 in 1985, Paint in its various guises would be one of the first graphics editors used by many and became a core part of Windows. Starting life as a 1-bit monochrome licensed version of ZSoft's PC Paintbrush, it wasn't until Windows 98 that Paint could save in JPEG. With the Windows 10 Creators Update, released in April, Microsoft introduced the new Paint 3D, which is installed alongside traditional Paint and features 3D image making tools as well as some basic 2D image editing. But it is not an update to original Paint and doesn't behave like it. Now Microsoft has announced that, alongside Outlook Express, Reader app and Reading list, Microsoft Paint has been signalled for death having been added to the "features that are removed or deprecated in Windows 10 Fall Creators Update" list.

23 of 388 comments (clear)

  1. NO! by Quakeulf · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I still use it in a professional setting!

    YES, I AM DEAD SERIOUS.

    1. Re:NO! by therealspacebug · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I also use it in work like once a week or so.
      Mostly to add arrows, circles or underlineing stuff etc to screenshots when making dokumentation.

    2. Re:NO! by Scarred+Intellect · · Score: 5, Informative

      paint.net

    3. Re:NO! by AmiMoJo · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I don't like the way you can "buy" a product, and then the manufacturer remotely disables some of the functionality you paid for.

      Not upgrading is not a viable option, because you need security patches.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    4. Re:NO! by omnichad · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I still use it in a professional setting!

      Same here. It's the quickest way to paste a Printscreen and crop and save to a file. A bloated 3D tool is just a waste.

      Deleting mspaint.exe will not fix Windows bloat. This is just trying to force people to adopt a new tool that does things no one wants. All anyone is going to do is copy mspaint.exe somewhere else and keep using it.

    5. Re:NO! by Verdatum · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's useful because I know the tool will be on any random machine I find myself sitting at. I know there are lots of good free pixel editing tools online, but that's not the point. When forced to work on machines that have things locked down tight, downloading and installing a new tool is not always an option. It's aggravating to track down tools that allow for a user-level execution; and often policy doesn't even want you doing that without approval. MSPaint is useful for the same reason that vi is useful in the *nix world; you know it's already installed and how it will basically behave.

    6. Re:NO! by jawtheshark · · Score: 5, Informative
      From their EULA:

      IrfanView is provided as freeware, but only for private, non-commercial use (that means at home). Companies and most state organisations need user licenses.

      The OP says he uses it in a professional setting. Be prepared to acquire licenses or at least talk with your legal department.

      --
      Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
    7. Re:NO! by xeoron · · Score: 3, Informative
      Use the spiritual successor Paint.net.

      Paint.NET is free image and photo editing software for PCs that run Windows. It features an intuitive and innovative user interface with support for layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools. An active and growing online community provides friendly help, tutorials, and plugins.

    8. Re:NO! by decipher_saint · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I have Photoshop, SAI, Clip Studio, Inkscape, Paint.NET installed but nothing beats win+r mspaint ctrl+p crop save

      Of all the things that Windows 10 needs un-fucking they pick on one app that's been "good enough" for more than 20 years

      --
      crazy dynamite monkey
    9. Re:NO! by sheramil · · Score: 5, Funny

      What do you use when you need a hammer?

      Ideally, it would manage your nail collection - it would search all available work-spaces for nails or nail-like objects - even http://dragonball.wikia.com/wi... - and it would organise your nails according to size, weight, color, composition, shape and which end was pointy and which end wasn't. It would keep track of your nail usage and offer you the nails you use most frequently, even going online to order new nails of that type (or more likely new nails of whatever type is preferred by the hammer's manufacturer), or it might refuse to operate at all unless you had the correct proprietary nails. It would also have social media integration so you could check out what kinds of nails your friends were using as well as be exposed to advertisements for different sorts of nails, screws, bolts, rivets, glue, welding rods and Namekians.

      Oh, and it would also hammer nails, although that's kind of secondary at this point.

    10. Re:NO! by stealth_finger · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I don't like the way you can "buy" a product, and then the manufacturer remotely disables some of the functionality you paid for.

      Not upgrading is not a viable option, because you need security patches.

      Then you don`t like Windows 10, Don`t buy it. I know I don`t buy things I don`t like.

      Classic argument that works for basically anything else. They don't sell previous versions anymore and they are ever and ever harder to get hold of. So your choice is windows 10(shit), mac(expensive and shit) or linux(complete non start for anyone who doesn't know exactly what they're doing). If you want a new computer choose the one you hate the least.

      --
      Wanna buy a shirt?
      https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
    11. Re:NO! by thegarbz · · Score: 3, Informative

      but nothing beats win+r mspaint ctrl+p crop save

      winkey "sni" select area save. It's shorter and faster.

    12. Re:NO! by omnichad · · Score: 3

      I'm sure it'll be a souped up Wordpad-equivalent / Word lite with a ribbon. Plain text support will be there, but you'll have to dig for it and you can't set it as default.

  2. On MSPaint... by Baron_Yam · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It's been too primitive to be very useful for much more than cropping screencaps for some time.

    If it doesn't also soften, scale (without artifact generation), remove noise, adjust contrast, saturation, tint, and brightness, handle at least text as a separate, editable layer, and do blending colour replacement along with handling transparency... meh. It's also handy if it can directly handle multi-frame GIFs and ICO files.

    Still, to this very day I use MSPaint for cropping screencaps because most of the workstations I end up on don't have any graphics software at all.

    1. Re:On MSPaint... by dysmal · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Agreed. Paint was never a GOOD program but it's what's installed by default and it works. I'm not going to install something like Greenshot on a server i'm working on but sometimes you need a no frills tool.

    2. Re:On MSPaint... by omnichad · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I have Photoshop. I still use MS Paint for screenshots. Low bloat and launches instantly.

  3. Re:Uh... by Quakeulf · · Score: 5, Informative

    The snipping tool.

  4. Re:Nooooooooo by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wait, Clippy is dead? Why didn't Clippy warn m... oh wait.

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  5. I wonder how much Adobe would pay... by dmgxmichael · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...to have a watered down version of Photoshop Elements included as a gateway to the more expensive Photoshop proper. Done correctly it would be a win for both companies and consumers.

  6. Good! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Next they can get rid of mail, photos, cortana, skype, the xbox crap, onedive, word, notepad, edge, windows app store, 3DBuilder, Appconnector, BingFinance, BingNews, 3dpaint, BingSports, BingWeather, Getstarted, MicrosoftOfficeHub, Solitaire, OneNote, Alarms, Calculator, Camera, Maps, Phone, Reader, SoundRecorder, ZuneMusic, ZuneVideo, windowscommunicationsapps, CloudExperienceHost, WindowsReadingList, Twitter, Flipboard, Shazam, Candy Crush, iHeart Radio, NAVER, tripadvisor, groovemusic, BioEnrollment, WindowsFeedback and ContactSupport from the default install!!

    All of which are crap or a better open source alternative exists. Choosing windows to run programs shouldnt have to force you into all their bloatware and ads too.

  7. Can I copy the EXE file? by acoustix · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What does mspaint.exe need to run? Are there any DLL files needed? Can I just copy the EXE from my Windows 7 box to Win10?

    --
    "A plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies"- Homer Simpson
    1. Re:Can I copy the EXE file? by TheRealMindChild · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The app itself should work fine. However, there is a part of MSPaint that is long forgotten... it is an embeddable OLE object. If you want to use that bit, there are some registry entries you'd probably have to move over as well

      --

      "When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
  8. Re:Nooooooooo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Clippy is still there. He had a sex change and prefers to be called Cortana now