On Monday, Microsoft announced through a post on its Support page that Paint would no longer receive any updates and might even be removed further down the road. The end of Paint comes after being part of every Windows build since 1985.
The tech giant marked the program as ‘Deprecated’ in a list of features that were either removed or no longer developed in the upcoming update, among which there were other notorious apps like 3D Builder and Reader.
Microsoft has recently introduced complementary software for Paint, most notably Paint 3D, which lets you create simple drawings and doodles in three dimensions but still performs differently than the traditional scribbling tool.
Paint is already dead in China and India
In spite of the fact that Paint appears merely as Deprecated in the new status list of features soon ending its run on Windows 10, the program has already disappeared for many users who have a particular version of the software.
PC World notes that Windows 10 builds written in Swahili or Hindi have already removed Paint from their suites and that users in China and India have confirmed they no longer have access to the scribbling and doodling tool.
Unlike other infamous pieces of Microsoft history, Paint has actually been a consistently useful release. It is not a graphic design platform by any means and most people use it to make quick drawings or save screenshots, but even with its inherent limitations, some users have even turned it into a tool for art.
The sudden disappearance of Paint in some regions of the world only raises concerns over when exactly the program will vanish for western users. Microsoft has yet to come out publicly and respond to the outcry of users begging for the software’s life as well as to give an exact removal date.
Which are some alternatives to Microsoft Paint?
Most people are familiar with image editors and online tools that can perform the same functions that Paint can and more, but most of the time the Microsoft built-in option is good enough to do what you need to do.
Paint.net, for instance, is a good downloadable alternative now that Paint’s days are counted. It is free, and like many other programs out there, it can do more than just your regular scribbling and color filling. GIMP is a solid option too.
For those who would rather save the hassle of downloading yet another piece of software, they can simply go online and do what they need in Pixlr Editor. The popular photo editing app also doubles as a white canvas in which you can create whatever you need with a quick move of the mouse.
Source: Microsoft
