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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.

12 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 Scarred+Intellect · · Score: 5, Informative

      paint.net

    2. 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
    3. 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.

    4. 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)
    5. 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
    6. 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.

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

    The snipping tool.

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

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

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  4. Re:On MSPaint... by omnichad · · Score: 5, Interesting

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

  5. 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
  6. Re:Nooooooooo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

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