
Microsoft Gives Paint the 11th Hour Reprieve It Deserves - adrian_mrd
https://www.thurrott.com/windows/windows-10/205446/microsoft-gives-paint-the-11th-hour-reprieve-it-deserves
======
cheeze
I think commenters here are missing the point. Yes there are alternatives. Yes
there are open source versions. But Microsoft isn't bringing paint back
because it needs a powerful image editor. They are bringing paint back because
many folks are very familiar with it, it gets the job done for them, and has a
certain nostalgia factor to it to boot.

The point is to bring back paint _exactly as it has been for years_. Not
iterate on the project.

One of my favorite examples of paint is the popular streamer destiny doing a
Bob Ross painting. It actually comes out looking pretty okay...

[https://youtu.be/8XxsgEw49p0](https://youtu.be/8XxsgEw49p0)

~~~
lawl
I find paint extremely useful for screenshots. PrintScreen, Win+R, mspaint,
crop it, add some red boxes, done.

Using the snipping tool is infinitely slower for me. Win, snipp, click new,
select region, click the edit in paint 3d button, wait for Paint3D to open,
add boxes.

mspaint opens instantly and is sufficient for basic tasks, that's why I like
it when using windows.

~~~
staticassertion
Yes, this is 99.99% of the image work that I do. Take a screenshot, add a box.

On Ubuntu there is no default tool for this, to my knowledge. I installed
`pinta`, and it's _way_ overkill and far more complex than paint.

A sane, default, "draw box on image" app is a good thing.

~~~
cblum
> A sane, default, "draw box on image" app is a good thing.

Speaking of that, is that still insanely hard to accomplish in Gimp? I haven’t
used it in years but I remember being extremely frustrated with it.

~~~
cr0sh
Gimp was never meant to do those kinds of operations, and it still can't - at
least not "easily"; it's still as cumbersome as before.

You can still do "pixel level" editing - you just can't do primitives.

Honestly, though, it's not the right tool for that.

If I need to do vector art, then I'll use a vector art program like inkscape.
If I need to do CAD, then there's a number of options in that space as well.

If I need to do pixel level editing, or something similar, my go-to editor on
Linux is:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GrafX2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GrafX2)

...mainly because I'm familiar with it since it is virtually a clone of
various editors I used on my Amiga back in the day.

~~~
cblum
That makes sense. I remember being frustrated though because Gimp was usually
the only imaging app that came installed in a desktop Linux system. And I
never found a good Paint-like app that wasn’t super buggy.

------
louthy
I'm surprised MS don't just strike a deal with Paint.NET [1]. It would help
fund a worthwhile project (which feels as simple as Paint, but is
significantly more advanced) that appears to be run from donations only.

[1] [https://www.getpaint.net](https://www.getpaint.net)

~~~
fermentation
Paint.NET and IrfanView represent the best-of-best for simple image creation
and viewing, and I cannot believe that they're free.

~~~
TeMPOraL
At my last job some busybodies started inspecting whether or not we have
correct licenses for everything we use and explicitly deleted IrfanView from
peoples' computers because they didn't. When word got around, actually went
out and _bought_ IrfanView license just for the "not gonna let you do that"
moment. It's damn useful, and I've been using it for over a decade now on
every Windows machine I had. Before that, I remember using something called
"ACDSee", but they must have made the software worse in important ways,
because I eventually switched to Irfan.

------
davnicwil
In my opinion Paint is one of the best ever examples of good software UI & UX.

It's so simple and obvious how to use it - all the most important controls are
right there to hand and the few slightly more advanced features are easily
discoverable in a well organised, fairly flat menu system. You can literally
figure out every function either by intuition or very quick trial and error.

It uses skeuomorphism and icons wonderfully to make everything absolutely
clear in form and function, even for a very novice user.

And - I think this is an important - it deals with images as a 2D grid of
pixels without any abstractions on top. No semi-3D overlapping 'layers', etc.
In keeping it simple, they give the user maximum control over the image with
no abstractions to get in the way.

In all sincerity, I think it should be a case study in simple, right-tool-for-
the-job UX and UI design.

------
umvi
I would LOVE something as simple as the Windows XP version of Paint on Linux.
Something that opens instantly, doesn't have a bazillion options, nested and
floating tool menus, etc.

I've tried Gimp and a few others and I end up wasting way too much time just
trying to figure out how to do basic stuff like draw a red box around
something.

~~~
drusepth
I've always used Kolourpaint for this, which scratches exactly that itch for
me.

~~~
paulddraper
The following additional packages will be installed: kinit kio kwayland-data
kwayland-integration libdbusmenu-qt5-2 libfam0 libhfstospell9 libkf5archive5
libkf5attica5 libkf5auth-data libkf5auth5 libkf5bookmarks-data
libkf5bookmarks5 libkf5codecs-data libkf5codecs5 libkf5completion-data
libkf5completion5 libkf5config-bin libkf5config-data libkf5configcore5
libkf5configgui5 libkf5configwidgets-data libkf5configwidgets5
libkf5coreaddons-data libkf5coreaddons5 libkf5crash5 libkf5dbusaddons-bin
libkf5dbusaddons-data libkf5dbusaddons5 libkf5doctools5 libkf5globalaccel-bin
libkf5globalaccel-data libkf5globalaccel5 libkf5globalaccelprivate5
libkf5guiaddons5 libkf5i18n-data libkf5i18n5 libkf5iconthemes-bin
libkf5iconthemes-data libkf5iconthemes5 libkf5idletime5 libkf5itemviews-data
libkf5itemviews5 libkf5jobwidgets-data libkf5jobwidgets5
libkf5kdelibs4support-data libkf5kdelibs4support5 libkf5kdelibs4support5-bin
libkf5kiocore5 libkf5kiofilewidgets5 libkf5kiontlm5 libkf5kiowidgets5
libkf5notifications-data libkf5notifications5 libkf5parts-data libkf5parts-
plugins libkf5parts5 libkf5sane-data libkf5sane5 libkf5service-bin
libkf5service-data libkf5service5 libkf5solid5 libkf5solid5-data
libkf5sonnet5-data libkf5sonnetcore5 libkf5sonnetui5 libkf5textwidgets-data
libkf5textwidgets5 libkf5wallet-bin libkf5wallet-data libkf5wallet5
libkf5waylandclient5 libkf5widgetsaddons-data libkf5widgetsaddons5
libkf5windowsystem-data libkf5windowsystem5 libkf5xmlgui-bin libkf5xmlgui-data
libkf5xmlgui5 libkwalletbackend5-5 libphonon4qt5-4 libpolkit-qt5-1-1
libqt5qml5 libqt5quick5 libqt5script5 libqt5test5 libqt5texttospeech5
libqt5waylandclient5 libqt5waylandcompositor5 libqt5xml5 libvoikko1 phonon4qt5
phonon4qt5-backend-vlc qtwayland5 sonnet-plugins

That's a lot, but it does work well.

~~~
badsectoracula
Yeah, if you do not have the KDE libraries already, installing any program
that uses them will give you this package vomit. One way to manage this is to
do apt-get install kolourpaint and then close your eyes, press enter, y, enter
enter enter (repeat enter around 30 times or so, depending on your terminal
size), open your eyes, type exit and go watch a couple "top 10" videos on
youtube or something.

After that you can use Kolourpaint.

~~~
drusepth
Careful where you suggest something like that. Next week we might see a front
page HN shell script that blacks out your screen, starts an install, and
queues up some top 10 videos.

And people will use it.

------
president
One of the most nostalgic things about Windows was messing about with MS Paint
to kill time in the days when the internet didn't exist yet. I wish OS X had
some kind of native paint program. Seems like such a basic thing, why not
include it with the OS?

~~~
avip
osx has a perfectly useable markup tool, the one that pops-up when you print-
screen. Weirdly enough, I don't know how to launch that with a blank canvas.

~~~
jmkb
Seashore (a severely gimped GIMP) is a decent simple editor for OSX.

[https://github.com/robaho/seashore](https://github.com/robaho/seashore)

------
partiallypro
I don't know why they don't just give it a facelift, but keep all the core
functionality and interface...instead of the Paint3D route of making it overly
confusing and keeping a very dated looking paint .net app.

~~~
ajhurliman
I know the common sentiment is that software is never "done" and there's
always something that could be better about it, but I think Paint is fine as
it is without any facelifting.

~~~
criddell
Most of the software I rely on feels done to me. If anything, I'm afraid that
some of the companies have built monstrosities that just aren't sustainable.

Evernote, for example, feels like it should be made way, way smaller so that
it can be maintained by a small group of people.

------
jlarcombe
Thank goodness. What would Jim'll Paint It do otherwise?

[https://jimllpaintit.tumblr.com/](https://jimllpaintit.tumblr.com/)

------
withinrafael
[I started the Twitter thread this article links to, and work with Paul and
Brad.]

Some context via a timeline:

* Dec 12, 2017: The Microsoft Paint utility in Windows was officially deprecated [1].

* Dec 20, 2017: A Product Alert button [2] was added to the app that, when clicked, indicated Microsoft Paint was going to move to the Microsoft Store [3]. That is, it was going to be available on-demand rather than ship in-box with the operating system [4].

* ~1H 2019: Microsoft has now fully reversed this decision [5] and removed the Product Alert button from the application altogether [6]. There is no official communication as to why this change was made.

[1] [https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4034825/features-
th...](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4034825/features-that-are-
removed-or-deprecated-in-windows-10-fall-creators-up)

[2] [https://i0.wp.com/www.onmsft.com/wp-
content/uploads/2017/12/...](https://i0.wp.com/www.onmsft.com/wp-
content/uploads/2017/12/paint-thing.png?resize=1031%2C580&ssl=1)

[3] [https://www.kunal-
chowdhury.com/2017/12/windows-10-paint-3d-...](https://www.kunal-
chowdhury.com/2017/12/windows-10-paint-3d-to-replace-mspaint-soon.html)

[4] [https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2017/07/24/ms-
pa...](https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2017/07/24/ms-paint-
stay/#PzlGpp3WmTXhFwEV.97)

[5]
[https://twitter.com/brandonleblanc/status/112055486957057229...](https://twitter.com/brandonleblanc/status/1120554869570572290)

[6]
[https://twitter.com/h0x0d/status/1119940129450184704](https://twitter.com/h0x0d/status/1119940129450184704)

------
jccalhoun
I don't really care that much since I rarely use paint or paint 3d. I just
find it odd that MS devoted any time to paint3d. I remember when they
announced it they went on and on about all these great 3d things you could do.
And no one cared. Did enough people in charge really believe that people would
be into the 3d stuff or was it just trying to convince people that they
wouldn't really need Pain any more?

------
maxxxxx
Does anyone know why they don't update the built-in apps more frequently?
Paint, Notepad, Wordpad and others are pretty much remnants from the Win95
days. On some controlled machines it would be a godsend if Windows had a
better built-in editor.

Updating these apps can't be that hard compared to all the other stuff they
are doing.

------
wnevets
Even if the new apps for Windows 10 are better I still go out of my way to
uninstall 3D Paint and the rest. If they didn't cram candy crush and all of
the other garbage down our throats I probably wouldn't be so sensitive to
additions like 3D paint.

------
etaioinshrdlu
I think it's lame that macOS doesn't ship with anything like Paint.

~~~
c256
MacOS Preview has (very) basic image editing built in, but it’s not widely
advertised. Open it up and look through the menus.

------
StanislavPetrov
As an avid user of paint, I noticed that it was replaced only weeks after it
was first removed (accessed by right-clicking on an image and using "open
with").

------
rconti
It made me smile that Paul Thurott's SuperSite lives on.

------
MordodeMaru
What on earth is Iker doing in that article?

~~~
trequartista
He's saving Paint

~~~
edgarvaldes
The connotation of using a goalkeeper is more like "avoiding Paint to pass",
which is not what the article talks about.

