Having announced it was planning to remove the popular  art tool from upcoming Windows updates, Microsoft  decides to retain it -- after huge global outpourings of affection  and outrage.
Bangalore Aug 2 2017: Drama was played out  on Microsoft's online  sites  last week, as it first announced the   imminent execution of a very popular  Windows tool -- then relented after  world-wide outpourings of affection for the product and outrage that it  was being killed.
|It began  with an innocuous announcement on its Support site that listed "Features that are removed or deprecated in Windows 10 Fall Creators Update". This was a list of tools that would no longer form part of the operating system,  when the latest version Windows 10 was updated three months  from now.It included  a lot of outdated legacy software -- and Windows Paint, the graphics tool for drawing, painting and  editing  art work.
Microsoft Paint  was  offered in the very  first edition of Windows -- Windows 1.0 in 1995. At that time it was a licensed version of a third party tool called PC Paintbrush  from ZSoft Corporation that only worked in black and white.  In the many Windows iterations since then, Paint has always been there -- and has grown to be a full blown colour graphics tool for lay users.    By  1998, one could save work as a jpeg -- which opened up the tool to handle photos.  Professionals used Adobe Photoshop ( now part of Creative Suite) to tweak  their photos. The rest of used used Paint. Generations of children used MS Paint as a soft tool for artistic creativity.   Now they had grown up -- and sent in so many mails to Microsoft that the company relented.
Just three days after the original death warrant,  Megan Saunders, General Manager of 3D at Microsoft   wrote a blog entitled : "MS Paint is here to stay" in which she  assured: " MS Paint fans rejoice: The original art app isn’t going anywhere."
She added: "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. 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 as a free download."
 So if you update your Windows PC or laptop  with the upcoming update, you won't find  the familiar Paint icon -- an artist's palette- in the  tile-style start menu. Instead you have to  go to the Windows Store and download it.. a small pain for the pleasure of continuing to use the dummy-friendly app for the artist in all of us.  And yes, while you are at it you have the choice of downloading  the 3-D version called Paint 3D that was first launched with the Creators version of Windows 10.