It’s time to Say Good Bye to Microsoft Paint

Microsoft has announced veteran graphics program Microsoft Paint will be retired after 32 years as a default part of Windows, dismaying users.

Paint was introduced with the first version of the Windows operating system, Windows 1.0, in November 1985 as a licensed version of ZSoft Corporation's PC Paintbrush.

It has survived with occasional upgrades in every version of Windows since, but on July 24, Microsoft announced it would be no longer be supported after the Windows 10 Fall Creator's Update.

It is not yet being killed off completely: Microsoft has provided a long list of programs to be removed but Paint is in the column marked "deprecated", meaning "not in active development and might be removed in future releases".

It will still be available through the Windows Store, making rumours of its death exaggerated for now: It might still hang around for another decade.

Microsoft also note Paint's functionality has been integrated into the brand new Paint 3D, so a program able to annotate memes, make cartoons and crop unloved people out of photographs will still be easily available.

Other programs on the chopping block include free email program Outlook Express and a collection of system tools, many of which are being replaced by updated versions of themselves, are described as "legacy code" or even, in the case of Syskey.exe, as a "nonsecure security feature".

Users have been sharing their dismay at the news on social media — although others claimed to be surprised it even still existed.