Microsoft is killing WordPad in Windows after 28 years

This is very upsetting to me--more as a point of principle than in fact--but I appreciate that it doesn't bother younger generations at all. I just had a small argument with my 11 year old about how not-a-big-deal-who-cares this is, and it basically ended with us agreeing to disagree since it'll be his problem and his kids' problem.
And the problem is normalizing the notion that an OS doesn't need to include a non-subscription word processor. The entire point of this move is to shift the OS Overton Window in favor of consumers accepting and expecting that features like word processors, spreadsheets, etc., should be installed separately and paid for on a subscription basis despite previous iterations of the same software being feature complete on install and purchased at a set, non-recurring fee.
WordPad hasn't been anybody's first choice for a word processor in years, but it was included with Windows and did the bare minimum for unsophisticated users. Now we're entering an era in which those users will as a matter of course buy off-the-shelf computers that come pre-installed without WordPad, but rather with a trial of Office Fuck-You-Pay-Me Edition. Those users may well discover that after their first six months with their new computer (that has made Microsoft more money selling their data than they paid for it), they suddenly get a pop-up informing them that their trial is up and MS wants $99.99 to release the documents they're holding hostage.
It's a step backwards for consumers in general, so even for the sophisticated of us who are least likely to be personally affected by this change, there's definitely cause for alarm.
- I get where you're coming from but I think you're overstating the impact in this day and age. If this had been 1995 it'd be a big deal. Now it's rediculously easy to install any alternative you like for free.
  Libre Office is an entire free fully features office suite.
  I'm less bothered about removing WordPad than I am about Microsoft advertising and pre-installing it's products in Windows - they force Edge on people, they push OneDrive and preinstall a preview of Office. That's the real problem - not losing WordPad.
  At one point Anti-Trust / Anti-monopoly regulators globally punished Microsoft for pushing Internet Explorer to consumers and for a long time in Europe had to offer a choice of Browsers to download on new Windows installs. Now it's allowed to get away with abusing it's dominant position to force it's products on consumers.
  
  Does liber office make .docx files and export to pdf?
  
  I built a new PC two months ago and it's the first time I didn't get Office. Libre Office has everything I need and it's free.
  
  Or you know, google docs is a thing which is free and imo works better than word
- I'd like to normalize the notion that an OS shouldn't include any application software except for a browser you can use to install other things. Let people pick what they want to use and install it themselves.
  
  Yeah, just download LibreOffice or use a free service like Google Docs.
  
  Wasn't there an anti trust or monopoly suite against Microsoft for bundled IE back in the day? Funny how times change, though I agree it's not easy to get a preferred browser without one. Mean it never was overly simple but they were on so many CDs mailed out back then. Think it has to do with some IE and Windows integration too so not just cause they bundled it.
  
  Better yet, the OS should just include a desktop environment with simple utilities and a package manager to install the applications you want. It will make users less likely to run into malware while searching for the programs in the web
  
  I think a file manager, text editor and command prompt are pretty essential too. And when you've added those, where exactly is the limit where it becomes "application software"?
  
  I think it's worth separating the two related but distinct concepts of what is a part of the operating system itself (for example, the actual file manager) and what is pre-installed or bundled with the operating system (games like Minesweeper).
  I agree with you that a rich text editor definitely shouldn't be part of the OS. But should it be a bundled part that ships with the desktop environment, the way Windows/MacOS/Android/iOS/ChromeOS all come with photo library software, basic image editors, media players, browser, email client, etc.? These applications aren't strictly necessary to use or maintain the system itself, so maybe they shouldn't have some kind of privileged use of the OS's functionality, but there's no harm in bundling in the installation defaults.
  I don't think a rich text editor is an important enough function to necessarily be preinstalled with the OS, but I can see an argument, at least. There's a reason why Windows shipped with one since the beginning, and why MacOS and KDE and Gnome each have a default that very few people actually use regularly.
- Yeah, even Apple includes the iWork suite (Pages, Numbers, and Keynote) for free on Macs and iPads, no subscription needed.
  
  The cost of the full Mac apps and OS is in the cost of the hardware. At least it’s one upfront cost. Surely the way windows is going can’t be popular or sustainable.
  
  As it should be. We pay for it on Windows and Mac…
- Tbh I use Notepad way more than anything for note making.
  If it needs to be formatted, OneNote is free to use and can be saved in any cloud (if there is a shortcut like OneDrive or Dropbox in the Windows explorer)
  If it needs to be free and not very sophisticated, I'd look around for a markdown based editor.
  If all of that fails, I will use Word.
  Never used Wordpad in 15 years (of 24 years of existence) except while trying to open word but Windows suggesting Wordpad first.
  
  i use wordpad a lot for viewing docs (loads faster, uncluttered ui). occasionally writing them... and more than once instead of notepad for a text file (on a system without a notepad alternative available) because i needed more features.
  i have a few clients that use wordpad as their 'word processor', lack of spelling check be damned.
  microsoft must have run out of excuses for specifically not including one in it, seeing how recent windows has spell check baked-in to the os itself. so instead of losing a few dozen sales of office home and student or 365 by making wordpad just a little bit better for those who use it, they're gonna be the assholes and take it out completely and push everyone to the damn cloud app or a 365 sub. fk 'em.
  
  I only use emacs to write TeX notes.
- Advertise and push Foss substitutes like libreoffice.
  
  could go a step further and bin windows altogether.
  granted, it's a big step for most.
- Google Docs is free and has basically become the standard word processor for the “unsophisticated users” you’re worried about. It essentially comes with your OS because you only need a browser to use it.
  I think your kid and his children will survive.
  
  Making things in Google Docs is fine, but last I checked Google Docs just sucked at opening anything that wasn't already a GDoc. LibreOffice Writer sometimes has formatting errors opening Word Docs, but it does a miles better job than Google Docs.
  Also, I hate how normalized everything using the cloud (aka "Someone Else's Hard Drive") for no reason is.
  
  it still has strings attached, its not truly "free". heck, google won't let it be word pad had no ties to Microsoft once it was given to you. everything else but LibreOffice and some others still have its creator's ties.
- Likely scenario, honestly.
  I really don't worry about it, though.
  Not to brag, but it doesn't bother me.
  Understand, there is a solution.
  X marks the spot.
  (Yeah, I know, that's kind of stupid. But it seemed funny in my head.)
  
  I can't read you
  I've given everything, but you seem distant
  I can't feel you
  Your heart is somewhere else, it's missin'
  What if I read back to you?
  You have a piece, but there's two
  Someone please get this reference.
- It’s too bad Linux isn’t more normalized. For those very simple users (and for the more sophisticated) Linux is probably much better than Windows at this point.
  No ads, free software, updates can be very simple and stable, less security issues.
- Then they ask their grandson or work it dept what they should do and both will answer libre office is free
- This is very upsetting to me–more as a point of principle than in fact–but I appreciate that it doesn’t bother younger generations at all.
  I am in a support group with over 100 senior citizens in it. Getting a file with a *.rtf extension used to be a thing, but it hasn't been a thing in years. I do get *.doc and *.docx files so they're probably getting lured into Office like you said even before Wordpad is removed.
- I disagree. I don't think a rich text editor should be part of the OS as it's not there to operate the computer. An OS should be the tools to run applications and manage your computer. There are a bunch of apps which are so small that it makes sense to include them - like a calculator and text editor, but everything else should be optional.
  
  There should be an OS out there for you which doesn't come with a rich text editor. [If there is ever a time to mention GNU+Linux in a MS thread then now is that time.] For most people however, not including it is a needless barrier to entry.
- Why in gods name don’t you use libre office. It’s so much better than word and excel for rent
  
  Because libre office is not compatible with many others. You can open it sure but there’s no guarantee that opening .doc or .docx will have broken formatting. Not good for those in the academia or workplace where formatting are strictly enforce.
- I used it for my damn resume because I didn't have word, didn't need office. I also liked it because when friends asked me to review a document I could open word documents with it, I would do that sometimes even when I had office because WordPad opened faster and I didn't need perfect formatting.
  I think it is safe to say that your 11 year old is factually wrong lol. But it is okay that they don't understand how bad this is because the concept of how multiple businesses have switched to subscription based models even in places we wouldn't expect, like a monthly subscription allowing already installed hardware in your car to actually function, cause it's just 11 year Olds don't have a great concept of bills and money at that level yet. I say wait for their first complaint of it as an adult and then put on your carefully choreographed and practiced "I told you so" dance
  Okay kidding aside I think it is absolutely wonderful this is something you didn't just have a conversation with your young kid about but that you had to agree to disagree, you sound like a fantastic parent who actually fosters a relationship with their kid. And probably only rarely says I told you so.

WordPad was a fast and efficient way to view doc files without loading into LibreOffice or any other office suite, or to make rich text documents quickly. But alas, we have to go to the cloud for our notes now...
- Seriously. Fuck OneNote with a cactus.
- Do the ultimate OP solution and host your own nextcloud. It has built in office and everything google drive has.
- Notepad++ does that too

Honestly, what is the point of Wordpad when you have Notepad and Word?
- Not everyone has the money for a copy of Word. There once was a time when free rich text editors were valuable. But at this point I agree it isn't needed anymore. There are plenty of FOSS alternatives to word that hit that market. Microsoft has probably kept it around this long to prevent people from looking, but now they've put their bet on cloud services.
  
  There are plenty of FOSS alternatives to word that hit that market.
  Plenty? I know one and its fork. That's about one and a half.
  EDIT: Oh, you probably meant the rich text editors like Wordpad, not text processors like Word. My bad for misunderstanding.
  
  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/free-office-online-for-the-web
  Word is available for free now
- Honestly I'm not too bummed, especially with open-source solutions like Notepad++, but it's the end of an era! Also, Word is paid, and so Windows not having a built in free RTF editor is notable
  
  Windows not having a built in free RTF editor is notable
  Yeah, that is a bit odd, but then again when's the last time you've seen something other than a cut-rate eBook in RTF? Everything is either some variant of plain text or a DOC file these days.
  Plus, it's rare that you ever need to edit RTF files. Read, sure, but that could be handled by Word Viewer, which is free.
  EDIT: Right, they're discontinuing the viewers, but apparently they have a cloud-based online thing that's free? Sucks if you live somewhere with crap internet I guess.
- Not all of us have Word, and Notepad doesn’t have rich text or the ability to open .doc files.
  
  LibreOffice is free
- WordPad (or at least uses to) opens much faster than word, but still has rich text. Perfect for some short notes.
  Or eg to edit an ini file. They display as readable text in WordPad and not just a massive long string like in notepad.
- It's nowhere near as bloated as Word but you have many more options than Notepad when it comes to formatting and presentation. It's actually impressive how much you can do within the limits of RTF.
- lightweight notes with margins
- Also try editing unix or Mac line endings in notepad
- Easy way to distribute rich text documents to users without them having to install anything.
- I use notepad super often as a copy edit paste aid. It loads in a millisecond.
- @jeffw @dantheclamman Wordpad is better for coding
  
  How do people use Wordpad for coding? I’ve never seen that done. If I ever open code in an editor with a “bold” button, I screwed up and close without saving.
  
  Whatthefuck
  
  Fair enough

of course, gotta push more people to that godawful office 365 crap somehow
- Seriously, the market share of Wordpad users is so small Microsoft absolutely does not care

I mean, I use LibreOffice, but for people not that tech savvy it sucks they won't have a basic rich text tool included with Windows.

To be replaced by a link to WordPad Bing AI Edition
- Ew. I’m annoyed by how correct you likely are.
- Upcoming:
  
  Direct image link
  
  "Not able to generate content that is biased."
  Well that's a fucking lie.
  
  It already exists btw: https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/clippy-by-firecube/9NWK37S35V5T
  
  read it in Gilbert Gottfried's voice.
- Subscription-based, like freaking Solitaire

Am completely expecting this to be due to falling office sales or fear that people will realize they don't need expensive Office every few years when WordPad has 90% of functionality for daily use.
I expect this will make a lot of people very angry since I know many users of WordPad.
- LibreOffice is what those people need.
  
  I personally like the look and feel of FreeOffice better. Fairly enough, I haven't used Libre in many years, but it always felt kind of clunky and when I tried Free it was very comfortable and familiar to use, as a lifetime Word-er.
- I actually very much doubt wordpad has hurt office sales.
  
  Seriously. It's insane to think this is a move to increase office market share
- I dont think I know any person who uses Wordpad. Most probably dont even know that it exists, hidden away somewhere in the starting menu...
- People still sleep on Excel. Nothing else touches it, and your finance department would riot if IT tried any of its "replacements."
- Notepad++ is also pretty nice
  
  Sounds like you need a new pc…
  
  Have you ever tried abiword? It's really lightweight.
- Wordpad has been obsolete since you could open files bigger than 64KB in Notepad. It's useful for almost nothing.
  It's not like your can't just install LibreOffice or use Google Docs and be done with it.
- They changed their licensing and specifically for robot users so I suspect it's to funnel those users into licenses which is a lot more than consumers.

Only thing I used it for was when older versions of Notepad couldn't handle larger text files. Now it can. So, no loss to me. Notepad going away would suck, that does at least get occasional use although Notepad++ is far superior.
- Notepad++ can't handle as big files for some reason. At work we have files that can reach 5-600 MB, and NP++ can't always open those, but notepad handles then with no problem.
  
  I had the same problem but noticed that I was using the 32 bit version of notepad++, installed the 64 bits instead and had no problems with large files
  
  Tbf npp has much more functionality than regular notepad.
  Just the syntax highlighting alone probably dramatically lowers the amount of text it can render.
  
  I've opened 4GB files with notepad++ before. Sure, it takes several minutes (I basically have to go away and do something else, or leave it loading in the background) but it gets there, eventually.
  
  With bigger files or searching in files where there's a lot of data I found sublimetext to be much more efficient (than n++)
  
  Just upload it in the cloud and use Microsoft online word!
  \s
  
  There's a npp plugin called Big Files, I haven't used it but it might be worth a look.
  
  That sounds backwards... I occasionally have to open log files of 1 gig or more, and notepad++ gets sluggish, but is usable, while notepad just hangs until I kill it...
  
  Use Vim.
  
  Klogg. I always avoid Microsoft when possible.
- Genuinely curious—why would someone choose to use notepad++ over something like VSCode in 2023?
  I can't say I've used n++ in over a decade when I switched to sublime around 2010, moved again to VSCode about 5 years ago
  
  VSCode uses electron so it's not exactly a lightweight text editor, way overkill if you just want to read a simple .txt. Add on the fact if you got way too many extension, it will be even heavier.
  
  NP++ is more lightweight and has some useful stuff builtin and easier to justify to IT dept to than a full IDE 🤷
  Personally I prefer pycharm and Atom for my home needs.
  
  N++ can search for a string in a directory full of files, that's what I use it for. Also helpful for showing unprintable characters like linefeeds or changing bit order mode, I'm not sure vs code can do any of that.
  For writing code, though, I do use vs code

Slightly annoyed about this, as I do use Wordpad (it's lightweight and useful for quick notes that I want to mark up with bold and italic). I don't always want to watch Word or Libreoffice load for twenty to thirty seconds.
Shitty decision, happy to be Wordpad's one fan.
- There's dozens of us!
  Yeah, when I want to just jot some words down quick in Windows, Wordpad has always been my go-to, but main thing for me is opening .txt files. Maybe I'm dumb and there's some Notepad default layout thing I never bothered figuring out, but I don't want to have to scroll right to read long lines of text.
- What about Notepad? I use it for the same quick notes
  
  Doesn't have formatting, unless Notepad has got really adventurous at some point in the last decade or two.
- Same boat. I have been using WordPad and .rtf format for all my notes for maybe 15 years.
  I've been meaning to jump to a markdown editor for a long time, and after this news I've already started using MarkText. I probably should have jumped ship a long time ago, but at least I'm on the path now.
  ~~I will have to figure out a neat way to convert my .rtf notes to .md.~~ Update: I've found Pandoc, it's a command line tool for which I've made a script for converting my .rtf files to .md.
  
  I've been using Joplin for a few years, syncing through Dropbox, and I like it. Mostly through the Linux terminal UI + vim though.

- Notepad is, in fact, under active development. They recently upgraded find and replace so it works 90% of the time instead of 30% and added some annoying restore session by default feature. not to mention tabs
  
  I hadn't noticed tabs! I'll have to check that shit out!
  
  I interviewed at Microsoft decades ago and found a bug in notepad during my interview when they gave me a laptop and asked me how I would test notepad.
  Their faces indicated that this was not supposed to be a productive exercise.
  
  I'd never had an issue with find and replace, but then I tend to install notepad++ straight away.
  
  I am forced to use windows 11 in some capacity for work and the notepad on it is actually really nice.
- it will deprecate WordPad with a future Windows update as it’s no longer under active development
  It doesn't need "active development" because it is perfect the way it is. Unix/Linux has tons of useful programs that haven't been in active development for 40-50 years.
- Notepad is just a barebones text editor. I doubt there were any substantial changes since Windows 95, other than ensuring it runs on a 32 and later 64 bit infrastructure, and the menu works with newer releases. That sounds like a 1h per quarter job at most.
  
  Windows 11 notepad is wildly different than what we've known with good ol pre-11 notepad.
- I haven't been using Wordpad for 20+ years. Notepad could do everything it does already. Then, you also have Firefox's built-in inspect to tinker with code on the fly.
  
  Word pad is a rich text editor.

This place really hates MS. Can't believe some of the comments here.
- Yeah it's really strange. I'm not a fan of MS by any means, but I've found myself making so many pro-MS comments on Lemmy just because the userbase leans so heavily pro-Linux and anti-MS.
  
  Lemmy and other Fediverse sites tend to attract folks who prefer FOSS. Early Reddit was that way too!
  
  It shouldn’t be that strange. Linux nerds are a huge Lemmy demographic.
  Much more up on new technology, FOSS, and privacy issues etc. than the general population. Good fit for Lemmy.
  
  And then getting downvoted by people who just disagree with your opinion. I'm one of the Reddit refugees so I don't know if we brought that with us or Lemmy was like that before but it's sad to see.
- MS has a history which informs what their fututre actions are likely to be. If you can't believe the comments here perhaps you have not heard that history. If you have then consider that lemmy is free software and so you're more likely to find that way of thinking here.
  My goto for distrust of MS https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend,_and_extinguish
  
  deleted by creator
  
  My goto for distrust of MS https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend,_and_extinguish
  There's not a single reference on that page that's less than 20 years old. Yes, Microsoft did some anticompetitive stuff back when Bill Gates was CEO, but it's absurd to suggest that that still "informs what their future actions are likely to be". A lot has changed since the 1990s.
- Apple is a LOT worse than Microsoft these days
- Not to mention the amount of people who think this is about notepad.
- A broken clock can be right twice a day. Unless someone keeps playing with the dials.
  As a former user, and an hardcore fanboy, I loved MS and Windows. They made computers accessible for the general public. The OS and the office suite were great. The sheer amount of available software for it was phenomenal. They even decided to publish games, which meant quality!
  Until they decided to break things.
  XP was a great OS, Vista wasn't. Then 7 was back to being good just for 8 to be not as good. Then Cortana and Edge and the push for cloud computing.
  What worked, worked well and was actually useful was changed, removed, phased out...
  GNU/Linux is not without its dramas and difficulties but we can expect a good degree of continuity between each version of a software (I'm looking a you, Gnome!). And if we're that hell bent on having that specific specific piece of software or OS setup, well, we can.
  MS by contrast just chucks the good things out and doesn't even let them floating around as something users may add to their system.
  Does someone remembers the PowerToys collection?
  
  PowerToys is alive and well, and updated regularly. More features now too.
  
  PowerToys is very much live and available for download. I use it daily.
  
  PowerToys:
  https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/microsoft-powertoys/XP89DCGQ3K6VLD
  https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/
  
  Unpopular opinion: Vista was actually a good step forward, but the hardware of the time wasn't up for the task which made it run like dogshit, and hence the public perception. It brought in better memory management, and UAC for better security among other things.
  What worked, worked well and was actually useful was changed, removed, phased out...
  MS by contrast just chucks the good things out and doesn't even let them floating around as something users may add to their system. Cortana, widely hated and unused, was phased out for one... wordpad being gone is so insignificant, it wasn't even very good at its primary task.
  They often replace things, e.g. the Photos app had a Video editor built in but now that's a separate and better app. I think they're doing a pretty good job of their software range actually.
  What bugs me about Windows is actually their striving so much for backwards compatibility that there's at least 6 ways to edit things or data and they're all still officially supported. It's a bit bloaty and no Devs have any consensus.
  Does someone remembers the PowerToys collection?
  The newer version is installed on my Windows 11 and is under active development.
  
  Does someone remembers the PowerToys collection?
  That name rings a bell. My username is from "Tweak Tools 95", which I think was a part of that or something.
  Edit: Also Windows has a long history of alternating good and bad versions.
  98 - good
  ME - bad
  XP - good
  Vista - bad
  7 - good
  8 - bad
  10 - good
  11 - bad
  In theory, the next version of Windows should be fairly good, or at least an improvement on 11. However I worry that MS will buck the trend now - particularly as they've pivoted away from software sales to software as a service (with additional data collection because fuck paying users).
- I mean, not many people are in the loving Microsoft camp. Tolerate maybe.
- I'm guessing you're pretty young, then.
- I would have never thought so many people would be pissed about Wordpad. Fucking Wordpad! It's terrible! And Ms isn't killing it to get office subscriptions because no one fucking uses it! They're killing it because it isn't worth the effort to maintain. There are so many free alternatives that are better.
- I can count on one hand the amount of MS products I've vaguely enjoyed using. Most things seems to be designed with the attitude that people will be using this whether they like it or not, making the user experience fucking awful. Nothing wrong with shitting on them.

They must not be able to spy on people thru it

I get that people here hate MS, but defending Wordpad is a bonkers hill to die on.
It's complete wank.
- It's the free (as in beer) program that comes with windows to open doc and rtf files and put together fine enough documents. Dropping it is Microsoft telling users unwilling to pay for word without the technical knowhow to get LibreOffice or Abiword going to get fucked. Its anti consumer no matter which way you slice it.
  
  I don't think so.
  My in laws are very technologically illiterate. I bet they have never opened word pad except accidentally... but I guarantee they know what "Word" is and think "word pad" is just some nerdy tech person word for the software they know.
  I bet the number of people who both rely on word pad and who don't know about any other free alternatives is so very low.
  
  It's have to actually launch it to be sure, but I'm pretty sure you can open them in Edge these days, along with all the other office documents.
  As for creating documents, your average social media comment editor has more features than Wordpad. Given that Chrome is still the most popular browser on Windows by some way, I think the average Windows user can download programs just fine. OpenOffice is even on the MS Store for those stuck on Windows S edition.
- My basic text editor on Winows somehow broke and crashes with a wired memory error so I WordPad is my basic text editor
  
  Why not libre Office ?

- "It was perfect"? Windows was always crap.

I don't like Apple but they ship their devices with everything a basic user needs and if a high quality, completely for free. When you get a MacBook you don't need to worry about finding and downloading an external app for almost anything - from viewing any kind of file, to basic photo and video editing, to document processing, etc. And they don't track every minute thing you do and act like malware to try to make you use their products.
- It's definitely not for free. You can buy several Windows laptops and Office licenses for a single Mac laptop.
  
  While that's true, most windows laptops of similar build quality and form factor are around the same price. Windows also advertises to you and installs unwanted apps on your computer without modifications. Of course, you could always install Linux.
  
  None that offer similar quality across the board in display, speakers, input devices, performance, battery life. Trust me I've looked. Alternative laptops aren't really any cheaper any more unless you get something of significantly lesser quality, in which case there's nothing surprising about that - something worse is cheaper.
- Except for a calculator on iPads.
  
  Indeed
- " And they don't track every minute thing you do and act like malware to try to make you use their products."
  LOL ok
- Except that businesses always find a way to lock themselves (and you) with Office, so regardless of all the chimes and stuff that come standard with your Mac you will still have to install Word because some exec somewhere might want to make some comments in your document in the form of highlighted, inline text instead of actual side comments.
- When you get a MacBook you don't need to worry about finding and downloading an external app for almost anything
  I don't think that's really a fair complaint against Windows when Microsoft got sued for doing exactly that.
- And they don’t track every minute thing you do
  You sure about that? I just bought my mom a new iPad Air yesterday and the setup process was maddeningly privacy invading. Name, address, and phone number just to install anything from the Apple store. Both me and my mom, who's not tech savvy at all, thought it was crazy the amount of info we had to put in just to get a usable device.
  and act like malware to try to make you use their products.
  There was also so many preloaded garbage apps installed by default. Why are apps like Measure there? Yes when I want to measure something...I reach for an iPad...instead of...you know...a tape measure... Just because they're first party apps doesn't make this okay. Also, Apple's ecosystem is famous for vendor lock-in.
  They may not be as blatant about it as Google is, but they're every bit as bad tbh.
- All well and good, but that still does not make a Macbook value for money.
- Lol overpriced locked down PoS os
  
  eh I use Linux on my desktop but macOS is a nicely polished UNIX operating system. It's only locked down for average users, you can usually get away with a quick sudo or worst-case going into single user mode and disabling some system protections.
  I definitely prefer using *nix operating systems, and macOS gives me that for portable computing. I'm still more productive on Linux, but it's not too far apart.
- They weren't investigated for antitrust for baking stuff into the OS - it was for monopolizing various sectors and strong arming users and competitors. They're allowed to have their own browser preinstalled, they just have to let you switch easily and remove it etc.
- This is tru, however MacOS is still a lesser version of linux with a fancy skin. You have to get third party apps to support ntfs formatted drives.
  
  MacOS has nothing to do with Linux, it's a bsd variant.
- What's the MacBook equivalent of MS Paint? Open it, paste from clipboard, and then do a simple crop/edit? I was looking to do this the other day and nothing seemed to work.
  I don't think Macs are as batteries included as some people think.
  
  You can do that in Preview.
  
  That’s preview. And preview is wayyyyy better than Paint.

Honestly, this blows. WordPad fills a niche between a full blown text editor and notepad. Most of my random daily notes use WordPad still when not OneNote.
- Notepad++ was a good alternative when I was running Windows
- Wow someone was using this?
- You can likely still grab the exe and use it
- I recently started using a markdown based note taking program called Joplin, that might be useful for you
- I don't get why they aren't retiring notepad instead. WordPad is just as light and fast while having more features.
  Not that I really care, I never touch either ever since MS basically stopped developing them 25 years ago. Notepad++, atom, etc, there are so many superb lightweight editors out there.

As long as they leave Notepad. I use it almost daily.
- I used it for the past 3 month at work writing in Markdown, just bd aide of how fast and responsive it was to open and close different papers
- I feel like even Microsoft would not be crazy enough to remove notepad.

"Active development"? What the fuck do they think needed to be done with txt? More ads? They do realize that there are a lot of txt looker aters right? This is not even a fight, its a "well anyway" sort of thing.
- Wordpad is for looking at and editing rich text, not txt files. It's not a big deal because no one uses rtf.
  
  Annoyingly enough, the other day got the first RTF file I've gotten in probably 20 years. To make matters worse, it was JSON that the customer decided should be sent as an RTF attachment to an email.
  Of course I run Linux on my work computer so I didn't have wordpad anyway. I had to use a cli utility to convert it to text, then use vscode to properly format it, since he conversion removed all the indentation/spacing.
  If I never see another RTF file again, it'll be too soon.
  
  Word is not included with Windows apprently so Wordpad is useful at work when I don't have time to install LibreOffice.
  
  Wordpad is for whatever people use it for, and that is mostly looking at files in some sort of text (words on a pad). My point is if microsoft removes the ability to open a text file then the consequences are on them.
  
  I like using it when I want to create a simple rtf document and not use a bloated Office.
  
  Wordpad can also open most Word files. Even though I have Office, I open word files in wordpad all the time, because it's so much faster to open. When I just need one small piece of info, that I am going to copy and paste, it saves me time.
- probably takes a bit of effort to keep windows built-in spell checker from working in it.
  
  Spell checker works in literally every part of windows (more so where you don't want it), this is the lamest weak sauce example on why you need to give me $20 ever.

So long as they don't fuck with Notepad, I could give a fuck. Notwithstanding Notepad++ is a thing, so the fuck to be given would be inordinately small.
- Yeah where else would I open a ton of ascii art, followed by "Install, then copy crack to install folder" 😂

Man fuck Microsoft. Killing a free app and replacing it with a paid app that has a subscription bundled.
What the actual fuck!!?
- It's word pad though, do you really ever use it? I use notepad for a quick temp fix in a pinch, I haven't used word pad in like 15 years.
  
  Regularly
- You... have heard of Microsoft before now, yes?
- I'll be editing PDFs with standard Mac software that comes with the OS while Windows charges a fee to edit text files.
  
  Yeah but you need to install an app from the apple store if you want to tile your windows on your screen, or turn off mouse scroll acceleration. There's a lot of stuff each has which is missing from the other.
  
  Do people using wordpad for anything productive?
  There's notepad and if I want anything fancy, either use libreoffuce or MS's online MS Word.

I used WordPad so much growing up. I fucking HATED Word and the office applications as a kid, WordPad just worked and just did writing, which is what I wanted to do.
- Why did you hate office apps?
  
  Clipart and wordart :3
  All text breaks if I insert an image!
  constantly reverting to the default font instead of the one I've used for the entirety of the document
  no visual aid settings, the absolute literal WYSIWYG.

I provide support for a Windows-only application that has to do automated document conversion. Some customers refuse to pay for an additional Office license and the only other option is WordPad. Going back to work on Tuesday is going to suck.
- cries in LibreOffice
  
  I would love if we could use LibreOffice, but our application just doesn't work with it and our devs won't even look at it.

RIP WordPad coders.
- Not to worry my dear Wordpad coders: Neovim is a good alternative. One can always set wrap and the default font to Times New Roman.
- Time to switch to a real pro IDE, which is Word obviously.

I use VSCodium instead.
- Notepad++ here, and jerbrains ide for actual coding needs.
  I do use vscodium on my Linux systems tho
- BTW I use Vi.
  
  Also Nano

oh no, anyway

It was lighter than word or libre and had formatting, unlike simple word editors like notepad++. Bummer to see it go but surely there is (or will be) an alternative
- And saved in the open rtf format. Programming a WordPad compatible alternative was my first semi-successful programming exercise.
- You can probably still install this. Just like paint (the old version) and the non ad filled solitaire etc

I just use notepad++ when I have to use Windows PCs.
- Wordpad is a rich text editor not a plain text editor.
  I can't say I've used Wordpad intentionally - ever -, but they do serve different functions.
  
  If you ever have to open a .rtf file (you won't) it's one of the few programs that natively supports it.

If they remove sticky notes I'm going to lose my shit.
- Funny story, I have a coworker who wanted a second monitor for her office PC. Now her second monitor is covered with sticky post it notes.
  
  physical or digital post-its?
- In that case, they better.

I use notepad anyways
- You mean Notepad++
  
  You mean VSCode
- The superior text editor

As long as they stay the fuck away from notepad
- Lol almost the same software since windows 1
  
  Now with tabs
  
  Simply no. They modernized it in Windows 11 and made it do the expensive mica stuff have fonts and tabs and some awful "restore session" feature
- N.B. Notepad3 (originally Flo's notepad2) is a great drop-in replacement for notepad.exe (and even has an install option to do exactly that, so everything opens with it even if other programs call it). I install it on every Win system I have to manage. Not as big as Notepad++, but has syntax highlighting, line numbers and supports LF file endings.
  EDIT: Disappointingly no screenshots on either site >:| It looks similar to vanilla notepad.exe
  
  Notepad has supported LF for at least 7-8 years
- Yea even with notepad++ on my machine I found myself using notepad for tons of shit while notepadd++ is better for logs and making scripts

I used to use WordPad a lot, I'd just press Win+R and enter "write"...
Now I get by with Libreoffice.

- Damn Scots, ruined Scotland!
- I think I read an article no long ago, I can't seem to find it. But it was a rumor along the lines that the CEO wants to make Microsoft's main product Azure Web, and that's why Windows is getting less dev attention. Windows 11 wasn't even supposed to happen. It was a salvage operation from the pieces of what was 10X, which was intended to be a last attempt to do something innovative with mobile devices, and Sun Valley which was supposed to be its own thing, an UI update over W10. They gambled on dual screens but since that didn't pan out, sure Windows 11, whatever.
  
  That's a silly rumour. Microsoft might not care about Windows as much as it did before, but it still powers a lot of other Microsoft businesses like XBox and different B2B solutions, which are very important.

I guess it's time to go back to Microsoft Works
- Wow, I had forgotten. Let's not actually.
- Time to go back to WordPerfect
- Why did that thing exist at the same time as word anyways. I remember being so frustrated I couldn't open word docs in works
  
  Because it was a fraction of the price of word/office?

thanks for nothing, hitler

I honestly didn't even know it was still around. The last time I opened it was... Windows 7, I think?

I get it. MS has a “free” rich text editor, it’s Word online. You can easily install any other simple rich text editor (is abiword still a thing?) on Windows. Wordpad probably has minimal usage.
- abiword's basically a dead project for windows and macos. the linux version i think saw an update a couple years ago.. but i can't get to the site (abisource.com) now at all to check.

A good alternative is abiword. Don't know if it exists on Windows tho.

No wtf microsoft!!
At least there's Notepad++. An absolute end of an era.
- Wordpad is the rich text editor, it's not notepad
- Notepad ++ is better anyway? Non story?
  
  Do you even know what WordPad is?

You can add it back to the library from an older edition, and it will run fine if you want it badly enough.

Linux, BSD, and macOS users:
- Linux fanboys can't help but tell you they're Linux fanboys.
  
  I guess the only thing more embarrassing would be being a Windows fanboy.
  
  Techno-vegans
- 99% of Windows users, too.
  
  Make that 99.99%
- This is my reaction even as a Windows user. In my experience, notepad is used when you just need to read what's in the file and formatting and such doesn't really matter, or you explicitly want as little processing of the data as possible. Like opening files that really aren't text based files.
  And then if you actually want formatting, images, fonts, etc to make something look good you get an actual document editor: Word, Libre Office, etc.
  The only thing I see WordPad providing is it's pre-installed and does have more functionality than notepad. I have used WordPad a couple of times when I've been on a new computer that doesn't yet have everything installed and I don't want to take the time to install an actual editor for whatever I'm doing. It's pretty damn rare though.

Install Linux, use whatever the hell you like
- Obviously not referring to you.
  
  Then don't complain about the ads, do t block the ads. Don't complain about the tracking, the monitoring, and don't complain about it.
- Why do I need to install Linux in order to install a WYSIWYG word document editor of my choice?
  
  Because I continuously read about shit that Microsoft pulls. Just install Linux and do whatever the hell you want with your computer l
- They can pull vi from my cold, dead hands
  
  Oh hells yeah! Vi for life, vi is life!

eh, there's plenty of tools out there like notepad++, atom, obsidian, etc.
- Wordpad is WYSIWIG, the alternatives you mentioned are more for replacing Notepad.
  But yeah, why use WordPad when LibreOffice exists?
  
  WordPad is wonderful for opening notepad documents written by modders who don't understand how to make paragraphs
- And none of them are doing what WordPad is doing.
- Or if you're using for purely notes, OneNote is like, right there. In your system tray. For free.

- Notepad ftw!

I can see truth to either position presented in these comments, but I don't like being a fence sitter. That being said, I would think making it available but not mandatory would satisfy both opinions, right? Making it unavailable altogether is a move that seems to have an ulterior motive.
- Not trying to defend Microsoft, but making it available to the fraction of a fraction that would actually download it is probably not worth it because you still would have to maintain it, making sure it's compatible with new windows versions and providing security updates.
  It's a lot easier to just kill it outright, and those that do actually really really want it can find some third party who has uploaded a version of the exe file somewhere.
  
  I agree with the first half of your statement completely, but as for killing it outright I would think turning it over to FOSS developers would be a less incendiary solution. As many people are saying, it hardly competes with other software that is already available.
  
  Isn't backwards-compatibility Microsoft's thing? You can still run an app in XP mode if my memory serves.
- I wouldn't be upset if they just put it on the Windows store.

"No one's paying for Microsoft Word, that thing that used to be free so... We gotta kill this so people too fucking stupid to use Libre Office get on board."
- Web-based Word is free.
  
  But it's shit.
  
  Wh... No it isn't.
- Lol, you think MS is doing this to cash in on the huge Wordpad market?
  
  They're doing it because why support the free word processor when they could just support the non-free one?

how will I read the instructions a vendor sent me for a windows server that is a word doc because who knows? Oh no... Anyway

Quill is free.
- Wow, that looks simple and nice.

Another advertisement for Linux...

"Looks like you'll have to pay for Word instead"
- Or LibreOffice or Only office or....

Oh for fucks sake

Off to the retirement home

Not a huge problem for me: (1) Never really used wordpad. (2) Used WordPerfect from 1999-2003 (3) Used Open Office and Libre Office since 2003 (4) I use Linux now

I use textpad for helping with coding and note keeping. No goddamn text formatting, just plain ascii with windows or unix line endings. Quick and easy macros, etc.

I was using WordPad a few times when I was a teenager on windows 95. :) Nostalgic to hear that name again.