Microsoft Confirms It's Not Killing Off Paint After Outpouring of Support (cnbc.com)

Microsoft said late Monday that it will not be killing off its Paint app in the next update of Windows 10. It will be made available via the Windows Store for free and will not be completely removed. CNBC reports: The U.S. technology company recently released a list which labeled Paint "deprecated," meaning it was considering removing the app when the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update gets released later this year. Fans on social media decried the potential death of Paint, which has been in existence for 32 years. But Microsoft released a blog post shortly after to clarify that Paint would not be completely removed, but instead made available via the Windows Store for free. "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," Megan Saunders, a general manager at Microsoft, wrote in a blog post on Monday. "Amidst today's commentary around MS Paint we wanted to take this opportunity to set the record straight, clear up some confusion and share some good news: 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."

Comments

Who isn't using paint.net?

[drinkypoo]

On a netbook paint is a handy place to paste a screenshot but on a machine with any kind of capabilities it's kind of the most frustrating tool available.

Re:Who isn't using paint.net?

[Anonymous Coward]

for those that aren't ofay with tools like paintshop or gimp paint is incredibly valuable for simple changes. I have Paintshop but their have been many times I have closed it in frustration and just opened the file in paint because the tiny change I needed to make was painfully obscured or overcomplicated in PS. sometimes a simple hammer is better than chest full of high tech gadgets.

Re:Who isn't using paint.net?

[xonen]

The real point of paint is not 'painting', but a basic tool to do file conversions, save a screenshot or acquire an image from a scanner, and maybe some basic text annotations or other stuff.
They (MS) underestimate it's usefulness. Moving it to the store is almost the same as abandoning.
99% chance i couldn't care less, now or ever, but for people that work on varying locations or have to administer other people's computers, or (play) helpdesk etc, might be upset. And rightfully.
It's about the same effect as removing notepad would be. Notepad is a horrible application that even in 2017 still cannot handle line breaks correctly, but it does have it's uses and is part of the standard windows toolkit.
Last not least - not everyone is permanently connected to the internet. Imho, windows is throwing in it's own windows with moves like this, and narrowing instead of broadening it's user base.

They miss the point.

[Anonymous Coward]

Availability isn't the concern. We want it ubiquitous. Meaning that if someone has windows you know they have paint.

Re:They miss the point.

[squiggleslash]

That's one issue. The other is that the precedent for "Oh, it's available in the store now!" were the solitaire suite games, which were wholly rewritten and changed into adware/nagware shadows of their former selves.

What's the betting that Paint is dead, and the Microsoft app called "Paint" in the store will also be a rewritten ad-infested "cloud-enabled" piece of crap?

That's no app

[I'm New Around Here]

It's not an app, it's a program. Apps suck. MS-Paint lives forever.

They still don't get it

[istartedi]

People who prefer the Windows ecosystem that traces its roots to DOS don't want to interact with a "store" to get things done. Paint has been part of the default install longer than "app stores" have even been a thing. It's like vi on Linux.

Re:They still don't get it

[Barny]

To use the Windows Store at all (even for free things), you need to log in with your Microsoft account. Once that is done, you have now matched your install of windows directly to YOU. Congrats, now you get ads and you get a screwed up log in system.

Basically, they are fishing for ways to encourage people to sync up with their store for ads and more, paint is just the latest bait to do this.

Re:They still don't get it

[iampiti]

They want everyone to forget that there was a world where you didn't need a Microsoft login and an app store to do things on Windows.
If you don't use those how are they going to gather data on you and earn money through their cut on the apps?.
I don't like iPhones but I don't mind their existance. They only thing I hold against them is that made acceptable the walled garden model to the masses. Now Microsoft is trying the same thing with Windows. Disgusting.

it did not from the very beginning

[mapkinase]

The plan was to stop supporting and _eventually_ drop it.

This is in line with the alarming industry trend of dropping something very stable and unchangeable (ergo, does not bring any money) in favor of something experimental and unstable that you will be able to sell to clueless buyers.

Similar to impossibility of having practically eternal products, stable software products of private industry are impossible as well.

Have you been to the grocery chains recently? Remember the hype of LED lamps? It was hard to find a good incadescent in my grocery store at one point, majority of the shelf space was covered by LEDs. Now the situation is back to the beginning: majority are incadescents, LEDs are in minority.

Welcome to the late stage capitalism