The era of Microsoft Paint appears to be coming to an end with the upcoming release of the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update. The image-editing application is officially being classified by Microsoft as a “deprecated feature,” as noted by The Guardian. That means that, come this fall, Paint will “not be in active development and might be removed in future releases.”
Paint has long been a mainstay of Windows, dating back to a 1-bit monochrome version of the program released alongside Windows 1.0 back in November 1985. Microsoft continued to update Paint throughout the years, and users have grown to embrace the limited set of features the image editor had to offer. And while it’s true legacy will always be associated as shorthand for poorly designed and badly illustrated digital art, it’s hard to deny the importance of the program as many users’ first interaction with creating images on a computer.
It’s not a super surprising move, given that Microsoft would logically be putting its efforts toward Paint 3D, the overhauled version of the original Paint that the company introduced in the Windows 10 Creators Update earlier this year. Also, just because the program is being listed as “deprecated” doesn’t mean that it’s gone for good just yet — there’s still no date or time frame for when (or even if) Microsoft intends to remove the application completely.
Still, it does mark an end of the road for the classic image-editing app. So later this year, when you update your computer to the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, don’t forget to pour one out for Paint.
... think I used Paint once in 1987...
