For fellow millennials who have grown up
spending hours doodling on Microsoft Paint, there’s good news and some bad
news. The bad news - 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, hinting at discontinuing the beloved program after more
than three decades. Microsoft’s next Windows 10 update, called the Autumn (or
Fall in the US) Creators Update, will bring a variety of new features. But
Microsoft Paint, one of the long-standing stalwarts of the Windows experience,
has been put on the chopping block. The good news – It will continue to be
available. Yay!
Just when rumours that Microsoft was
planning to kill off its beloved MS Paint application led to a flood of
nostalgic lament on Tuesday, Windows reassured users that the beloved computer
graphics app is not going anywhere. “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,” Windows clarified in a blog post.
First released with the very first version
of Windows 1.0 in 1985, Paint was 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.
Café spoke to a few locals and this is what
they had to say about MS Paint:
MS Paint may be past its prime but it still
has a lot of memories attached to it. Kids of the newer generations will never
understand the feeling of spending countless hours scribbling and drawing
mindlessly on the virtual white sheet for long hours and filling them with
bright colours and feeling artistic (laughs). – Rajesh Dalvi, marketing
professional, Marcela
MS Paint is like the Yamaha RX 100. There
are newer bikes with far more sophisticated technology and more powerful
engines – yes, but the adrenaline that you feel on the iconic and vintage RX
100 is unmatchable. Similarly, Paint may not be anything like the sophisticated
Photoshops and the Lightrooms of the world, but it is and will always remain
special. – Dayanand Kamat, fitness instructor, Ponda
I’m not sure if I’m the only one, but I
still use Paint. People may thrash it to be archaic but it is one of the
simplest programs that can be used to crop a picture. It is also the best tool
for saving a screenshot. It is absolutely uncomplicated to use and less
daunting than the complicated-looking newer editing softwares. MS Paint should
continue to live. – Apeksha Kurtarkar, teacher, Margao