Microsoft hits new low: Threatens to axe classic Paint from Windows 10

Satya Nadella had us all fooled but good with his kinder, gentler, people-empowering Microsoft act. But now we can see the company's reverted to type by threatening to kill venerable graphics app Paint after the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update.

A new list of “Features that are removed or deprecated in Windows 10 Fall Creators Update” bears the bad news, as it includes Paint in the “deprecated” column, indicating that the venerable graphics app is “not in active development and might be removed in future releases.”

Some will say that the classic Paint is naff or lacks features, especially when compared to the modern Paint 3D app that arrived with the Windows 10 Creators Update. It's hard to disagree with those critics, because “naff and underpowered” is a kind description of the program. But it's been around for decades and has come to be regarded as part of furniture. It'll be missed, for the sake of nostalgia if nothing else.

Less likely to be mourned are the likely demise of IIS 6 Management Compatibility and IIS Digest Authentication. TLS RC4 Ciphers are also deprecated in the imminent release, as is Windows PowerShell 2.0. Replacements have been scheduled for Trusted Platform Module (TPM): TPM.msc and TPM Remote Management.

Interestingly, Microsoft's also hanging the axe over its System Image Backup (SIB) Solution, advising that it's time to “use full-disk backup solutions from other vendors.”

As Microsoft has already foreshadowed, the Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET) will bite the dust in the new release. So will Outlook Express, the Reader app (integrated into Edge, not entirely dead) and Screen Saver functionality in Themes. Syskey.exe goes, replaced by BitLocker because it's not secure.

Microsoft's not offered a precise date for release of the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, but October 2017 is assumed to be when it will land. ®