MS Paint: ‘the reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated’

Yesterday saw the internet go into something of a meltdown as Microsoft announced that its 32-year old Paint program was to go the way of the dodo in the upcoming Creators Update.

Now however after the public outpouring of nostalgia-tinged mourning, the company has declared that the program isn’t being sent to the great recycling bin in the sky after all. While the apparently beloved app is to be removed from the core operating system, Microsoft confirmed that it will "have a new home in the Windows Store where it will be available for free".

Much to the chagrin of nostalgia-heads everywhere, it was believed that the new Paint 3D would fully usurp the program that was introduced with the first iteration of Windows, Windows 1.0, in November 1985. Instead, it would seem that the two will live in relative peace, though Microsoft has reminded us of the new app’s virtues:

“Paint 3D – the new app for creativity, also available for free with the Windows 10 Creators Update, will continue to get new feature updates. In addition to the new 3D capabilities, many of the MS Paint features people know and love like photo editing, line and curve tools, and 2D creation are in Paint 3D.”

Perhaps more interesting than Paint itself is this very public acknowledgement of its user base’s opinions. Microsoft has been keen to show that it has been listening to feedback, going so far as to actually create a first-party ‘Feedback Hub’ app, in order to satisfy many users who still resent the company that ‘forced’ Windows 8 on them.

The Windows 10 Creators Update is set to launch this Autumn, and could be released as early as September. As the title would suggest, it has a renewed focus on creativity tools, with Paint 3D, Mixed Reality and a new ‘Fluent Design’ being introduced in an effort to entice content creators away from their traditional Mac-shaped homes.