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| (Image credit: Tom's Guide) |
It looks like the days of the Control Panel are finally coming to an end because Windows will now prioritize the Settings app. Since the long-lived Control Panel was replaced with the Settings app in 2012 with the release of Windows 8, the transition has been gradual.
To be fair to Control Panel, it hasn't been cleared out despite years of reports that it's dead. Nevertheless, the functionality has been there for almost 40 years—in some capacity—since Windows 1.0 debuted in 1985.
But Microsoft has never officially said that the Control Panel would go. The greatest evidence that we have comes from a 2015 Tweet from a top Microsoft executive, which Neowin highlighted. In that tweet, the person stated that "Settings will eventually supersede Control Panel."
Although the removal of Control Panel has not been formally announced by Microsoft, the company did state on a support website that Control Panel will be "deprecated in favor of the settings of the Settings app, which offers a more modern and streamlined experience."
The article also provides an advice for Windows customers: "while the Control Panel still exists for compatibility reasons and to provide access to some settings that have not yet migrated, you're encouraged to use the Settings app, whenever possible."
Control Panel's functionality has been gradually slipping to the more recent program ever since Settings was first released. Compatibility seems to be the only reason it still exists, since Microsoft hasn't been able to solve this problem in the previous 12 years.
However, Microsoft has been concentrating on updating and streamlining Windows in recent years. Despite the software giant's denial, the Settings app was really designed primarily for touchscreens.
Control Panel is still available and in existence in the meantime. It will pass away eventually, but not today.
There is no timeframe for when Windows' Control Panel may eventually vanish due to its gradual deterioration. We requested a response from Microsoft and will update this post if and when they reply.
Revision:
A Microsoft representative acknowledged the accuracy of the support page post, but provided no further information on the Control Panel's potential removal from Windows.