Submission details
Paint MUST be replaced
Stock Paint application is outdated, feature-limited, ugly and must be thrown away from the modern operating system environment.
Replace Paint with more sophisticated application. Paint.NET looks very promising.
Low
Medium
Fixed
Discussion (42 comments)
It would be great if they could include a simple version of the Expression Design tool. Very simple but pixel and vector based with the ability to do simple photo editing.
Will Paint.NET ever replace Paint in Windows?
There are no plans to include Paint.NET with Windows. But you can always download it for free from our website. Honestly, it's better that Paint.NET is not integrated in to Windows, because that let's us keep our own design and agenda for everything.
From: http://paintdotnet.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=489
I totally disagree. I think Paint is so simple that it has it's right to exist in Windows. Don't get me wrong I always have paint.net installed but I love the simplicitiy of Paint just to cut an image or copy some piece out of it. I demote that.
Am I the only one here thinking "anti-trust" if they ever make paint more than what it is today?
what microsoft need to do in windows 7 is use programs like the gimp or a least have a link in the start menu to a page that lets you download free programs like the Gimp and inkscape
@arranmc : :) please note that this is not Linux we're discussing here !
I always thought Paint.NET should be included, but after reading Michael MS's thoughts I must say I totally agree with them.
So maybe someone at Windows Live Services designs some online app or extends the Live Image Gallery to something like Microsoft did in the past : Digital Image Suite 10. A light version of that, of course !
MS had plans to upgrade all o their integrated apps in their first release of vista. They were going to integrate live one care into the OS and then they got sued by Symantec, McAfee and others, so they pulled it out of the RC1 version of the OS. We are lucky that they even integrated Windows Defender into Vista. I do agree that these apps need upgrades badly but I think MS is worried about law suits! Maybe one day they will upgrade the included apps, but don't expect it to happen any time soon.
LOL @ Screenshot
I like what they did with Live Messenger, it is not included with Vista, but they have a link to download it. So to stay away from lawsuits, Microsoft could get away with not including apps such as these into Vista. Learn from linux such as Ubuntu, add the ability to download and install apps through Windows updates. Make apps like Paint.Net, Live Messenger, Silverlight, etc. This way, people can just check mark the apps they want, click Install and be done with it.
There are plenty of great free apps, and MS would only make Paint.Net worse. Best left alone. They could do better with photo tools though.
If you need a more advanced app, you will get one, and Paint does exactly what it is supposed to do: entertain the kids...
Or, perhaps, include Paint.NET in the "Ultimate Extras"...
I don't think Paint.NET should be included, Windows should only come with a simple application, but they should update Paint with just a slightly few more features--that even are in simple icon-editing tools--including a better color selector, alpha blending, rotation and cropping.
If it is included Paint.NET should coexist with paint, somewhat like notepad and wordpad does today.
Seeing that it won't, perhaps Windows Updates should have a 'recommended programs' category so mere mortals can find it easily.
I think Paint.NET is too complicated for most users, a improved version of Paint must be done.
Layer support and better brush quality would be good
Guys, like I said, Microsoft has no obligation to include a professional quality paint program with Windows.
But even as a simple utility, Paint is horribly outdated---its worse, as I said, than every icon-editor on the planet. You're forced to deal with a "Define custom colors" dialog instead of having a better color selector and you can't do alpha blending, so you can't save transparent GIFs or icons.
Don't include Paint.NET, just make Paint more modern.
I totally agree on that one. Paint.net is a great tool and even if one doesn't like Paint.net it's still way better than the original Paint.
fixed in Windows 7.
they updated paint in vista and it looks great. if they only did that to word pad...
I saw in the windows 7 shots that paint is getting some new features. like a grid....
wasnt the first verson of apint called paint brush?
btw, not replaced, but improved!
btw the text box in paint needs updating its still has the 95 style
If they want to impove Paint they could start with adding TABS and then Integration with Snipping Tool
We should have a stripped down version of Paint.NET included.
Having Paint.NET would means it is far too powerful and get sued by competitors.
Leave Paint as it is. And allow Microsoft to release an advanced version like Photoshop
that is what this is. windows 7 has some paint.net features. current paint is like a striped down verson of .net
they a;lready are, its called expression
I call for an improvement too, not a replacement.
I use it to create quick and dirty icons & button images that I turned over to the graphics guys, who most definitely don't use paint.
It does its job - I like the fact that it looks like it did in Win 2.1, means it still works.
Do you really think MS expect it to be used for anything serious.
@cosmin2007: That's not MS's comments, it's the guy behind Paint.NET speaking.
As it is now, we get a steady flow of Paint.NET goodness through regular updates. If it was integrated into Windows, I think that'd be the death of it. It'd turn into what Paint is now, receiving no attention for 10 years until Microsoft decides that maybe it's just getting sad.
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it" -- does that apply here?
Paint was already significantly improved in vista.
Although I have heard nothing but complaints from those that liked reading the fast and easily browesable help that was in previous version. The new help "search" is useless.
I disagree. Paint is something everyone can understand, and Paint.NET is much more complicated. People don't want to spend hours learning a program, to do some simple tasks. Paint isn't supposed to be an extended graphics program. Microsoft has Expression Design for that.
Also, Paint is extemely lightweight, unlike most other graphic design programs.
If you don't like paint, use Paint.NET. It's free.
Paint is getting a make over and new features in Win 7
As everyone else has mentioned, yes Paint on Vista has been upgraded just enough to keep its place (unlike that sorry excuse for a throw-in word processor that is WordPad). Paint is not even official Microsoft property so that's really a far-fetched possibility.
Now it's really just a matter of demoting this suggestion if you're so much against it :)
Improved a lot in Windows 7 but not so great. Use Paint .NET instead
I use paint ALOT when im programming. Waiting an extra 1 min for paint.net to load up to cut out a simple image would be be overkill for me.
You must have a slow computer if paint.net takes 1 minute to load.
It takes about 10 seconds from a cold cache on this old athlon and on my celeron 600 it takes about 30...
@brian.shapiro: To crop using paint on vista, select a portion of the image, right click, and crop.
Paint .NET is just another open source tool. It's not maintained or supported by Microsoft. Although Microsoft legally can redistribute Paint .NET as a part of Windows, I don't think they would do so because they don't 'own' it.
Fixed in Windows 7...
http://www.thinknext.net/archives/2268
Download a better app yourself, paint is fine for a basic user. If you want more, download more.
-1!
Icons is updated, then it's very good for basic image editing!
-1
No, I use MS Paint every day (for cutting and pasting images and pixel edits) and I think it's just fine as it is. If I want to do something more with an image, I just use a different editor. I don't want another slowly-starting monster application when I just want to do minor edits and close the app.
Changed status from [Not fixed] to [Fixed]
amosharper wrote on June 4, 2008, 6:18pm
Get people working professionally on Paint.NET. Make it as fast as possible and as easy as possible to do the simple stuff you can do on paint, whilst leaving the more advanced stuff still completely accessible.