Just hours after social media broke out in mourning over the imminent demise of Windows mainstay MS Paint, Microsoft announced that it wouldn't be killing off the 32-year-old art program after all.

Paint was earmarked to be "deprecated" in an upcoming update for Windows 10, meaning it would no longer be actively developed as a part of the operating system. While this is still the case, Microsoft now says it will offer the software as a free download should anyone want to keep using it.

"If there's anything we learned, it's that after 32 years, MS Paint has a lot of fans. It's been amazing to see so much love for our trusty old app", the company said in a blog following the internet outcry.

"MS Paint is here to stay, it will just have a new home soon, in the Windows Store where it will be available for free.".

Taking Paint's place in the start menu (if not in our hearts) is the new Paint 3D which, Microsoft was keen to point out in its blog, has a lot of the functionality of the old app.

"In addition to the new 3D capabilities, many of the MS Paint features people know and love like photo editing, line and curve tools, and 2D creation are in Paint 3D", the company said, calling it "the new app for creativity".

Paint 3D was introduced in October last year as both a replacement for MS paint — an application first launched in 1985 — and a key pillar of the push to make Windows a hub for 3D and mixed reality creation. However it's clear from this week's reaction that many users would prefer to keep it simple.

Thankfully for those people, while Paint 3D continues to evolve and receive regular updates, its old-school forebear will still be accessible as well.