Back in July, Paint.NET creator Rick Brewster said he was bringing the app to the Windows Store. That day has arrived.

“Paint.NET version 4.0.18, which I just announced, is now available on the Windows Store,” Mr. Brewster writes on the Paint.NET blog. “The standard price is currently $8.99, but I’ve put it on sale for $5.99 until the end of October. You can also make use of the 30-day free trial to get started.”

That there is a price at all has disappointed some: Paint.NET is available for free on the web, though Brewster requests that users show their appreciation for his work and support future development by donating.

“The Store release of Paint.NET is not distributed free-of-charge,” he explains. “This allows many things to converge and solves a lot of problems, while still providing value for new and existing users (err, customers?). The ‘Classic’ release will still be available and kept up-to-date on the same schedule as the Store release.”

So there you go. But as he notes, there are some important advantages to using the Store version of the app, aside from the usual karma-related stuff around paying for what you use and appreciate:

Background updating. Software updates are now “fully automatic and transparent,” Brewster says, ensuring that you will always be on the latest version of the app. The Classic version, by comparison, checks only once every 10 days.

Easier install. Once you own Paint.NET via the Store, it’s super-easy to get it installed on all your PCs. “Store apps also come with the wonderful advantage that they can’t install browser toolbars,” Brewster adds. “They can’t change your web browser’s homepage. They can’t do all sorts of things that would pollute your system. Store apps don’t get to provide their own installers full of sneaky check boxes that may or may not install various crapware. Paint.NET has never and will never do anything like that, but for many other apps it has been a very slippery slope over the years.”

Better reliability. Likewise, the Store version of Paint.NET uses the more reliable and modern Microsoft package manager and application model, and not the old-school MSI technology he uses for web distribution.

Aside from the Store advantages, Paint.NET version 4.0.18 offers 25 percent faster startup performance, per-user plug-in support, and other improvements.

You can find Paint.NET in the Windows Store. I highly recommend buying it: It’s a top-notch graphics app. And, remember, it’s only $5.99 right now, a $3 savings over the normal pricing.

Tagged with Desktop Bridge, Paint.NET