Microsoft Paint to be depreciated in next Windows release, could be removed in future

Credit: Drew Angerer

Credit: Drew Angerer

It’s been around since the early days of Microsoft Windows, but a start menu staple may soon be no more.

Microsoft developers have announced that Paint, the simple drawing program that many would-be digital artists got their start on, is being depreciated, meaning that it is no longer in active development. The change in status could also mean it might be removed in future releases.

The change will take place with the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update for most users.

Paint was first released in Windows 1.0 in 1985, The Guardian reported.

April’s Windows 10 Creators Update premiered a new paint program called Paint 3D that offered tools to create 3D images, but while it is named Paint 3D it isn’t an update to Paint.

For a complete list of changes coming in the Windows 10 Fall Creators release, click here.

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