For users of the Microsoft Windows 10 operating system on their computers, there has been a buzz building over the past few months for what the future holds. The latest batch of additions and fixes to the ubiquitous OS will soon be making their way to Win-10 in the form of the 2017 Fall Creators Update. Some nifty new features are expected to make their debut then, some taking longer than others like the Windows Timeline. However some existing feature and programs of the OS are in the inverse situation; that is, they run the risk of being removed in the next release.
In the spotlight now is none other than the long-running Ms Paint program. Time is coming when it will soon be cut.
Deprecated feature
MS Paint, the basic graphic art program that has been part and parcel of the Accessories suite of the Microsoft Windows operating system, is possibly on the verge of being phased out. Microsoft itself has announced that the application has been classified as a “deprecated” feature. This means that active development of upgrades for Paint has stopped, and that in later releases of further updates for Win-10 there is an ever-increasing probability that the program will be cut altogether.
The reason for leaving the “venerable” old Paint program high and dry is easily spotted.
One of the big additions of the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update is Paint 3D, a brand new graphic art application that has three-dimensional capabilities. A major selling point of this program is the ability to take a conventional 2D art design and convert it if desired into a 3D image. Paint 3D, of course, has support for drawing tools, and Microsoft has stated that any creation of the application can be viewed through HoloLens.
The fact that all art files created on Paint 3D can be shared on an online community comes across as a big boost over the original Paint, hence its recent depreciation.
Present since the beginning
Ever since the very first Microsoft Windows operating system came out in 1985, a graphic art application has been part of its basic offering of programs.
Originally known as “Paintbrush” the app gained its current name in Windows 95 and has been steadily improved in the number of graphic formats it can work with, from bitmaps to JPEG and so on. It may be hard to believe but according to Microsoft themselves, as of last year, the Paint program still has 100 million dedicated users in a month.
Other features that have been deprecated by Microsoft ahead of the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update include Outlook Express, Microsoft Reader, and Reading List. The company has not commented on the fate of Paint after the announcement.
