Microsoft Paint's a rosy picture

Vendor replies after Paint obituaries were written yesterday

Microsoft has alleviated fears that it is planning to ditch the Paint application following an outpour yesterday, revealing that it will be made available in the Windows Store for free.

A number of reports yesterday claimed that Microsoft was set to can its cult graphics program, citing a Microsoft blog that listed which Windows 10 features will be removed in the operating system's autumn update.

Following a global outcry, Microsoft published a blog revealing that Paint will not be scrapped, and will instead be made available to download for free from the Windows Store.

Published late last night, along with the above image, the blog said: "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.

"Amid 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 where it will be available for free."

Paint was first released in 1985 on Windows 1.0, but rumours of its demise started circulating yesterday after a blog post from Microsoft titled Features that are removed or deprecated in Windows 10 Fall Creators Update went viral.

Paint was listed in the "deprecated" column which, according to Microsoft, denotes features that "are not in active development and might be removed in future releases".

In its response, Microsoft also said that a new app - Paint 3D - will be available when the Windows 10 update is released, with this app set to receive continuing feature updates.