Unfortunately it has a use. Microsoft discontinued WordPad

Both classic Notepad and classic WordPad can be downloaded and installed from third-party sites.

However, to thoroughly neuter the enshittified versions and ensure the classic versions are used in all workflows can take a bit more than what the installers recommend. Primarily, I would recommend adding the *.bak extension to the enshittified versions then make (IIRC) junction links from the classic ones to where the enshittified ones are sitting. This ensures that if anything reaches for the enshittified ones, the junction links are there to redirect the action to the classic versions.

They updated the screenshot tool. Now its like paint.

so it's minime word now?

Its really a shame. Every OS needs a simple text editor, possibly without formatting support of any kind. You're not supposed to use it, it just makes it possible to edit basic configurations on the fly and things like that. Instead they support half of word pad and cram in copilot for some reason.
Although I do admit, I haven't seen the need to move away from kwrite for a long time. Basic text editor that does what it should and does it right!

Tabs were a welcome addition, but that's where the good idea train swiftly leaves the rails.

What we needed was a built-in hex editor, and maybe some better tools for working with unicode that you can't just type in on whatever keyboard you have.

Instead, they turned it into WordPad, which we already have.

I understand Notepad++ is pretty cool?

I use Neovim (and Kate sometimes)

If you use the formatting bar to format text, it unlocks the View→Markdown menu which has two options - Markdown or Syntax. This allows you to toggle seeing the source or formatted markdown.

If you do not use the formatting bar to format text, markdown is not enabled. I manually typed in text in markdown format and the menu didn't un-grey.

You can go into the app settings and turn off formatting, which will hide the formatting toolbar.

I think you really have to work hard to be offended by this.

Additionally, for those Notepad Purists™ who are offended by any features being added… Tabs are handy. And having it auto-save drafts and auto-open them is also handy - for me. Maybe you don't like that, but you can disable the auto-save in settings. Can't turn off tabs, but you can set it to open in new windows, so pretty close to disabling that.

If this is what drives you over the edge to use Linux........ okay, bud, have it your way - and I'm a Linux enthusiast, so I'm all for it. But being pissed off by something you have to specifically enable seems a bit silly to me. It's the hallmark of fascism - "Other people have the right to exist! FUCK THAT!" - a little hyperbolic, but the principle is vaguely the same. :P (And what's the internet without hyperbole? :) )

Oh god, nobody look at org-mode 😳

Notepad went from simple to having an identity crisis.

I hate this person. It makes me want to scream. One of the dumbest stupidest things about Windows is a fucking useless programs go on with it that haven't been updated in 20 years. Please update them. You want to update notepad? Go look at Notepad+. Please please please update all the shitty little programs that exist around Windows that no one uses cause they're so goddamn shitty.

Holy fuck update Windows programs. For the love of God update ALL the Windows programs. Make the goddamn search tool work. Make the goddamn voice to text work. Make the image viewer not suck. Please don't listen to the people who are resistant to change. Leave an old shitty version on there just for them, but please please make Windows programs better because they suck right now!!

So this is like Kate but for plebs?

I’ve totally fallen for markdown. I want more normies to know about it.

All the nice things about rich text with none of the Word.

The Notepad getting junk added is a Microsoft Store app. The old notepad.exe is still usable.

Notepad's sole purpose is to remove formatting from copied text.

Org Mode shall set you free

Sublime ftw

Isn't notepad an LLM client now?

So… they removed Wordpad to push people into using Word… and now they removed Notepad to push people into… this monstrosity? Why does Notepad support hyperlinks now?

Back when I used Notepad, it was to strip out rich text formatting and reliably get consistently distinct text, especially if I configured it to use a monospace font. Now I have to worry about embedded hyperlinks sending me to God-knows-where?

notepad has formatting now? o_O

does it produce markdown or something?

Notepad++ gang, rise, claim your kingdom.

I mean you're right, but also look at what emacs or vim are doing on the linux side. Overloading your notepad application is hardly a concept birthed on Windows.

You have a virus there.

the point and strength of notepad was that it opened immediately, no bullshit, you can write text and that's all.

I suspect that's not the case anymore.

Notepad, the app I literally only ever use accidentally, or to edit a PC's hosts file.. Ah yes, this definitely needs CoPilot and markdown formatting.

All it needed was a dark mode to match modern Windows light/dark theming, done.

The additional shit (markdown, CoPilot?!) is just noise, intrusions, and vulnerabilities.

My week as a windows forced office worker just peaked having seen this meme.

Unironically the last straw in getting me to switch to Linux. Then a week later was the copilot vulnerability news

@RmDebArc_5@piefed.zip @programmer_humor@programming.dev

Wasn't there a lurking edit.exe or edit.cmd somewhere inside C:\WINDOWS\system32? Would make an interesting replacement to the enshittified "Not-e-pad". But, then, I haven't used Windows since Windows 10 was still a novelty (and what definitely pushed me to Linux... Arch Linux btw), so maybe I'm very old ("I'm old, Dean, very old") to recall of a MS-DOS relic.

This is a bad rant. Nvim has markdown format rendering too, does that make it worse? I’d say the markdown rendering was a good update, because now my tech illiterate coworkers can open the .md files I sprinkle everywhere and see them as their meant.

No, the true madness is the advent of tabs that stay open until explicitly closed, even if the program is terminated, and come back when you open the app from scratch.

I still remember WordPad. It was Sooo fancy.

Notepad is still fine. You can disable markdown and the AI stuff.

I use Macs at home, but use Windows 11 at work. I actually use a combination of Notepad and Sticky Notes daily (well, not on the weekends). It’s fine.

One thing I want it to do is stop telling me a file is not saved if I change something and then change it back. The unsaved indicator (the dot) annoys me.

microsoft write.exe or nothing