Very discouraging to see this, but sadly it's consistent with every other graphics tool Microsoft has ever launched:
- PhotoDraw
- Windows Journal
- Microsoft Office Picture Manager
- Photo Editor
- Image Composite Editor
- Photosynth
- Picture It
- Fine Artist
- Image Composer
- Microsoft Digital Image
- TrueSpace
- Expression Design
And to this we can now add
- Paint 3D
- Publisher (due to be killed in 2026)
I recall that there was at least one other quite good drawing program that made it to beta in the 1990s, but it was killed before it could be released.
I can understand getting out of a business because of an inability to gain enough market share, but Microsoft has entered and left this market over a dozen times in 30 years. Given that track record, a lot of customers were likely hesitant to invest a lot of time and money in using MS design tools because they'll eventually be left in the lurch with a bunch of unreadable graphics files. When I first saw Paint 3D, I suspected it would eventually meet the same fate. I just found out today about Publisher being abandoned, and I have a *LOT* of .PUB files that will be orphaned. Shame on me for assuming that Publisher would be any different than the rest of the list above.