In 2017, Microsoft made available an updated version of Paint, called Paint 3D, which introduced several additional features that attracted the attention of many. At the same time, they wanted to remove the traditional MSPaint application from the range, but since users did not accept it, the old application eventually remained available alongside the new one. The situation will change soon, according to the latest news, the remaining days of Paint 3D are already numbered, the application will be removed from the Microsoft Store on November 4, 2024, and from then on it will not receive any further updates.
The Paint 3D application itself was introduced that year with several additional functions, and as you can imagine from its name, Microsoft also targeted those who are thinking about 3D modeling. In the end, this last function was not as successful as expected, but other innovations, namely the introduction of image layers, the possibility of removing the background, and support for transparency, proved to be important. Since Paint 3D did not live up to expectations in the meantime, the classic Paint program received a major update in 2023, namely it received support for layers, support for transparency, and the possibility of removing the background.
Another useful bonus is that Paint was later expanded with the Cocreator feature, which made AI-based functionality available, although it was only available and exclusive to the Copilot+ PC tier. So the original Paint had evolved a lot in the past period, and was still very popular, while Paint 3D had moderate success, so it's understandable that Microsoft decided to focus on just one version from now on.
Paint 3D will say goodbye after 7 years of its release, while Paint, which was announced in 1985 and has improved a lot recently, will still be with us. Many people also like the latter application because it starts quickly, requires few resources, but basic image editing can be done with it. Of course, the functionality is very limited compared to GIMP or Adobe Photoshop, but in return it is compact and starts quickly, in addition to being part of the basic Windows offer.
