Windows WordPad on the Microsoft Chopping Board

[T0@st]

Microsoft has quietly added WordPad to their list of "Deprecated features for Windows client," as of September 1—this classic word processor application has been part of their operating systems stretching back in time to Windows 95—when it debuted as Microsoft Write's successor. The announcement stated: "WordPad is no longer being updated and will be removed in a future release of Windows. We recommend Microsoft Word for rich text documents like.doc and.rtf and Windows Notepad for plain text documents like.txt." Updates for the bundled rich-text editing program ceased following UI tweaks introduced around the Windows 8 era.

Microsoft presents two alternative paths for the near future—naturally, one involves a paid 365 subscription—you can opt for Word. An online version is available at no cost, but it involves registration (with MS) and only functions as a web app. Notepad is the next best free-to-use native word processor—it has been modernized with new features, albeit via Windows 11. HotHardware has hyped it up: "One major update that users have been asking for was recently added to Notepad, that being the ability to open multiple tabs within the same session. Future updates include an autosave feature and the ability to restore previously open tabs as well as unsaved content and edits across those open tabs." Microsoft will be adding a snipping tool at some point, with the introduction of a: "combined capture bar, making it easier to switch between capturing screenshots and screen recordings without having to open the app."



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[Chaitanya]

Havent used it in ages, I used to use notepad and notepad+ for coding work. And for more of text processing its was OpenOffice or MS Word.

 

[agent_x007]

LTSC version should bypass M$ account requirement for Office (as it does mostly work in offline mode).

 

[Frick]

Nooo it's the best lightweight, simple rich text editor.

 

[R0H1T]

There's lots of free/better alternatives out there already.

 

[lemonadesoda]

Odd strategy from Microsoft. First, they want to copy Apple with a "low walled garden" to MS products and MS apps. Then they remove apps that provide good-enough functionality but provide a natural upgrade path to MS Office. As soon as WordPad goes, we need to start looking for alternatives. As soon as we download and get used to alternatives, the "low walled garden" is breached and user moves to non MS products.

Are they going to kill notepad next? Is a shame, but then we will just have to move to notepad++ which is a far better product, but for many situations, isnt actually necessary and requires a download and install requiring extra time and effort for the owner/OS installer.

 

[dicobalt]

Frankly I'm still upset they removed Program Manager in Windows Vista.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Odd strategy from Microsoft. First, they want to copy Apple with a "low walled garden" to MS products and MS apps. Then they remove apps that provide good-enough functionality but provide a natural upgrade path to MS Office. As soon as WordPad goes, we need to start looking for alternatives. As soon as we download and get used to alternatives, the "low walled garden" is breached and user moves to non MS products.

Are they going to kill notepad next? Is a shame, but then we will just have to move to notepad++ which is a far better product, but for many situations, isnt actually necessary and requires a download and install requiring extra time and effort for the owner/OS installer.

Download? I mainly use Google drive these days, as it's by far the easiest platform to share documents with others on.
Office 365 is pants in comparison.

 

[bearClaw5]

Odd strategy from Microsoft. First, they want to copy Apple with a "low walled garden" to MS products and MS apps. Then they remove apps that provide good-enough functionality but provide a natural upgrade path to MS Office. As soon as WordPad goes, we need to start looking for alternatives. As soon as we download and get used to alternatives, the "low walled garden" is breached and user moves to non MS products.

Are they going to kill notepad next? Is a shame, but then we will just have to move to notepad++ which is a far better product, but for many situations, isnt actually necessary and requires a download and install requiring extra time and effort for the owner/OS installer.

They're also killing Windows Mail for outlook, which surprise: has advertisements unless you buy a subscription.

 

[JohH]

They're also killing Windows Mail for outlook, which surprise: has advertisements unless you buy a subscription.

Putting advertisements into basic features operating systems should have (a simple mail client).
So Microsoft. The bingification of all their products continues unabated.

 

[londiste]

There's lots of free/better alternatives out there already.

Can you name a few good ones?

 

[R0H1T]

To WordPad?

 

[trsttte]

To WordPad?

Yeah, I think you'll find there aren't that many if any when you think alternatives that are just as simple. Of course you could just use the full featured libre/open office or any of the other alternative but they do a lot more than what wordpad does.

 

[Totally]

Odd strategy from Microsoft. First, they want to copy Apple with a "low walled garden" to MS products and MS apps. Then they remove apps that provide good-enough functionality but provide a natural upgrade path to MS Office. As soon as WordPad goes, we need to start looking for alternatives. As soon as we download and get used to alternatives, the "low walled garden" is breached and user moves to non MS products.

Are they going to kill notepad next? Is a shame, but then we will just have to move to notepad++ which is a far better product, but for many situations, isnt actually necessary and requires a download and install requiring extra time and effort for the owner/OS installer.

There isn't a barrier to office it's free to use with a MS account. Don't download Office 365 download the apps (word, PowerPoint, excel). Full functionality just the cloud stuff gets walled off.

 

[TechLurker]

Eh, it's been Notepad+, LibreOffice, and Google Docs for all my writing and documentation needs nowadays.

 

[Frick]

Yeah, I think you'll find there aren't that many if any when you think alternatives that are just as simple. Of course you could just use the full featured libre/open office or any of the other alternative but they do a lot more than what wordpad does.

Exactly this. Libre Office is ... ok I guess, but compared to Wordpad it's bloated. At work I use it for printing instructions for customers or various warning labels, and for just a quick thing it's unbeatable.

 

[Gmr_Chick]

I used to use Wordpad for writing, but then discovered Apache OpenOffice some years ago and haven't looked back ever since.

 

[Deleted member 232534]

I used to use Wordpad for writing, but then discovered Apache OpenOffice some years ago and haven't looked back ever since.

i thought it was discontinued, but looks like it's still being developed with a version 4.14 so nobody in Asia would ever use it. I bet the "marketing team" is on a ms payroll.

 

[trsttte]

i thought it was discontinued, but looks like it's still being developed with a version 4.14 so nobody in Asia would ever use it. I bet the "marketing team" is on a ms payroll.

It was forked into libreoffice because of lack of thrust in the way oracle treated their open source projects. It still exists and is still supported but libreoffice quickly overtook it in terms of popularity

 

[cowcatwithahat]

I sincerely do not remember when I use it last time and if I did might have been opened by mistake.
It is not without benefit of having it installed by default.
In my previous line of work, when on the field with no internet connection, it did happen that I needed to open a rich document, WordPad was there.
Overall, I don`t mind seeing it go if it`s function is added to another existing software that is installed anyway by default.