Windows enthusiasts are in a bit of a panic this morning after a list was published this past weekend by Microsoft Support with a list of features that are being deprecated and/or removed in the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update.
First a quick vocabulary lesson:
According to Microsoft deprecated means planned for removal in subsequent release and removed means removed from the product in the current release.
So, among the items on this list you will find such things as 3D Builder App (Removed), Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (Removed), Outlook Express (Removed), Reader App (Removed), Reading List App (Removed), Screen Saver in Themes (Removed), System Image Backup (Deprecated) and Paint (Deprecated).
It is that last one, the deprecation of Microsoft Paint, which has created a buzz across social media today.
That buzz includes the requisite memes that Paint was often used to create:
RIP MS Paint. RIP our childhoods pic.twitter.com/UpNYEDe4cA
— Ramsha (@Economistaken) July 24, 2017
While I understand the removal of a 35 year old program like Paint is creating melancholy for many of its users there are two things to remember here.
First - right now the the feature is just deprecated. That means as of the release of the Fall Creators Update, the fourth feature update for Windows 10, it is marked for removal in a future update of Windows. So it is not going anywhere until at least next Spring when we expect the fifth feature update for Windows 10 to arrive.
Second - there is a replacement already available in the Windows 10 Creators Update called Paint 3D. I think that 3D part of the name throws users off but this app is more than capable of replacing Paint and many of its capabilities.
Many may not realize it but Paint 3D does have 2D capabilities including saving files in JPG or PNG formats:
Paint 3D Save Dialog
For those of you concerned about BMP, GIF, or TIFF formats - they are available under the Other option.
A very popular activity with Paint is writing with your mouse and that same capability is available in Paint 3D. You can even use your laptop's trackpad if a mouse is not available:
Created in Paint 3D
In Paint 3D you can also crop and annotate screenshots very easily:
A cropped and annotated image created in Paint 3D using text and inking with a pen.
Of course, these same capabilities are in Paint to begin with but Paint 3D adds many more abilities to stretch your creativity to new horizons by giving you an opportunity to try out 3D object creation which is something Paint was never going to deliver.
Paint 3D is also a Windows Store app that Microsoft can now update at a more frequent schedule instead of having to wait for an operating system update. This means new features, bug fixes, and other enhancements can be pushed to users every week if necessary.
Oh by the way, for most users a search for Paint from the Start Menu will likely show Paint as the top result. However, if you use Paint 3D just a few times it will take over that top spot automatically (see the above screenshot). In addition you can make Paint 3D your default app for images and various graphic image formats in Windows Settings>Apps>Default apps.
So my suggestion for you dedicated Paint users is to start using Paint 3D more to discover its rich feature set and make yourself ready for the day that will ultimately arrive - Paint's removal from Windows after 35 plus years.
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But, wait...there's probably more so be sure to follow me on Twitter and Google+.
