Just a day after news broke that Microsoft was dropping support for Paint, the company has clarified that the 32-year-old program is not being killed off but will live on as a free download from the Microsoft Store.
The program was flagged to be removed or deprecated in the latest Windows 10 Fall Creators Update to make room for its successor, Paint 3D. Microsoft said that Paint's functionality will be integrated into Paint 3D as well.
The announcement was widely reported and was met with "an outpouring of support and nostalgia" from users on social media.
"Today, we’ve seen an incredible outpouring of support and nostalgia around MS Paint," the company said in a statement.
"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.
"Amidst 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 introduced in 1985 as part of Windows version 1.0 and has been included in every iteration since then.
Microsoft also announced that its Reader app would be integrated into the Edge browser, and that Outlook Express would be removed, to little fanfare.
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