"We've seen an incredible outpouring of support and nostalgia around MS Paint," Windows Experiences team general manager Megan Saunders said in a blog post late Monday.

"MS Paint has a lot of fans. It's been amazing to see so much love for our trusty old app."

While Paint will no longer be part of Windows operating system by default, it will be available free in the Windows Store and be updated by the US software powerhouse, according to Saunders.

Read also: Microsoft Paint brushed aside

The apparent shift in position came hours after Microsoft announced the end of days for Paint as it focuses on software for 3-D drawing.

Paint drawing and image processing software that made its debut in 1985 with the Windows operating system was among the applications listed as "removed or deprecated" in a Windows 10 Fall Creators Update set for release later this year.

For decades, Paint was among applications installed by default on Windows-powered personal computers and drew a strong following.

The coming Windows update will feature a Paint 3D version.

"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," Saunders said.