Microsoft Paint isn't going anywhere after all.
After an outcry of longtime aspiring digital artists, Microsoft had a change of, umm, art, and said it would not discontinue the classic program. Instead, the company said an app version would be available in the Windows store.
"MS Paint is not going away," Calli Rose, Microsoft spokesperson said in an email. "In addition to the new 3D capabilities, many of the MS Paint features people know and love like photo editing and 2D creation are in Paint 3D--the new app for creativity, available for free with the Windows 10 Creators Update. In the future, we will offer MS Paint in the Windows Store also for free and continue to provide new updates and experiences to Paint 3D so people have the best creative tools all in one place."
The reversal came after word spread Monday that Microsoft planned to push Paint out of its software picture, putting it on a list of "deprecated" features that would be included in the company's Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, set to be released this fall. The categorization meant that Paint would be available as part of the software package come autumn, but that it would not longer be subject to active development and could go away.
The label led to numerous tweets from longtime users who took to the program to paint how they were feeling. The hashtag "RIPMSPaint" was also trending throughout the day.