You obviously didn’t read the article, but that’s OK it’s a trash article anyway. Which is already indicated by the headline, since Notepad was never free, it’s just included with Windows.
But your comment is disconnected from what this is really about, which essentially boils down to nothing.
Since what you are supposed to pay for is new AI features. Otherwise you can use Notepad as usual.
The age of Notepad having a paywall has arrived, with the simple writing software now prompting users to sign into a Microsoft account to access new tools such as Rewrite, a new feature that uses artificial intelligence to rewrite highlighted text.
It should be noted that you can still use Notepad without a Microsoft account, and users can go as far as removing the Rewrite icon completely from Notepad.
Is it though? I still always open notepad for random text stuff. What is better in ++?
RustyShackleford@literature.cafe
on 23 Feb 07:53
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Notepad++ isn’t trying to shoehorn in AI for starters. It’s clear Microsoft is praying the current gimmicky narrative of AI will let the masses not realize this is a privacy nightmare.
Notepad does that neither for me and has not for >20 years. So is there something that is actually better or not?
ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.world
on 23 Feb 08:01
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Yes, it objectively is. And so are various other text editor options that are out there.
But just speaking about Notepad++, you can scale it down to a very simple text editor (like Notepad), it you can easily ramp it up to a much more feature rich one. And for me, the ability to have a vertical list of files is a big plus. As is its ability to optionally show line numbers.
Specifically: tabs, dark mode, and retention of unsaved documents. They’re apps for very different purposes, but Notepad has had some nice little updates over recent years.
+10000 for notepad++, its he swiss army knife of file editing tools.
Adding:
Plugins: CSV being read as a small dB table you can query is a game changer. Or have a JSON plugin that auto formats and queries as well as opens the JSON in a clickable nested window.
Pinned tabs: pin important tabs, I use one as a todo list.
Search for text within files in a folder: need to find a specific bit of text in one of dozens/hundreds/thousands/millions of files somewhere? Its lightning fast and works a treat
Search and replace with regex: amazing feature, use regex patterns to find complex parts of your files and replace them with something else
Bulk operations: remove newline, replace line breaks etc
Multi format support: see line breaks from different OSs like Unix and windows and amend them
Portable install: you dont have to install it, you can use a portable version
Your first two points are part of Notepad now too. Everything else you’ve said is true though, including the find and replace function supporting regex. It’s amazingly powerful for editing.
It also supports line numbering, which seems like a small thing but is really helpful.
the only thing I need it for is to select text vertically (by holding left alt). there are a few similar ones for linux but some crash and the rest don’t have a dark theme, so I still use it with wine.
It’s a lot more feature filled and frankly not very nice looking if all you want is a simple replacement for Notepad. Notepads (with an s) is much better imo.
The title is quite sensational compared to the content. They only added an AI Rewrite feature for notepad that requires a Microsoft 365 subscription. Considering the cost of AI, and the fact that it will very probably run in the cloud, it is very reasonable that it isn’t free. Everything else about notepad remains free / included with the price you paid for the OS.
That’s actually very nice, one of the few Microsoft programs that I genuinely miss - layers are a quality of life feature that is actually really nice to have 👍
andallthat@lemmy.world
on 23 Feb 07:26
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the news is more that they are trying to shoehorn AI in effing Notepad to make sure even those little snippets of text can be used for training
empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com
on 23 Feb 07:28
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reseller_pledge609@lemmy.dbzer0.com
on 23 Feb 09:46
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Notepad++ is my text editor of choice as someone who just edits the occasional file. I’m not a programmer or anything, but it’s nice to have those autocomplete and syntax highlighting features for config files. Helps me keep track of stuff better when editing.
empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com
on 23 Feb 19:46
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Sublime can do all of that as well, but it’s more performant, has better shortcut keys, and IMO it has much nicer navigation for larger files (gives you a sort of eagle-eye’s view of the entire document next to the scrollbar). That’s all very much a personal preference thing of course.
reseller_pledge609@lemmy.dbzer0.com
on 23 Feb 20:26
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Hell yeah. I just wanted to add another option. I have no opinion regarding Sublime and choice is a good thing. There’s something for everyone.
Fuck Ai. I just want Notepad to edit the most basic text. Why the fuck would I need fucking Ai bullshit in it? To rewrite what? INI game files? Hosts file?
BigTrout75@lemmy.world
on 23 Feb 07:43
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Notepad is not free! Bah ha ha ha. Anyway, tons of options out there for those not to lazy to look.
[obligatory linux boast]
I really prefer Kate to Notepad because KDE makes superior, non AI encrusted software that actually works for it's users. And it's FREE!
Even though it's typically associated with KDE and Linux, it's also available on Windows. Good for people who haven't made up their mind yet. It's a great text editor with a feature-set similar to other advanced notepads.
I'll be real though, if I hadn't jumped ship 3 years ago, I'd be cutting my losses with Windows here.
PrettyFlyForAFatGuy@feddit.uk
on 23 Feb 10:11
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personally i find kate struggles with large files. KWrite is a better analog to notepad IMO
TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world
on 23 Feb 11:20
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I like Kate as a program but man KDE need to change how some of their app names appear in Plasma.
A new user looking through their start menu and seeing “Kate” will have no idea it’s a text editor/notepad. The same is true for multiple other programs.
Okular, Dolphin, Cantata… ask someone who’s never tried Plasma before what those programs do and I’d wager you’d get an incorrect answer for each one.
TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world
on 23 Feb 12:52
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Indeed. That’s what I do on my Plasma system, it’s a good option.
But a new user or someone who isn’t technical won’t see that, they don’t go digging through settings in each app, they just use the defaults.
I guess a solid compromise would be to enable this by default, and anybody who doesn’t like that short descriptor can disable it.
But IMO nothing will beat the no-nonsense straightforwardness of calling OS apps immediately intuitive names. This is something I believe Gnome gets right. Go onto their GitHub and their file manager is called Nautilus, but on your system it will default to being called “Files”, because they know everyone will understand what “Files” is but a lot of people would ask “Wtf is Nautilus??”, same goes for other apps, e.g. “Loupe” appearing as “Image Viewer”.
What does “Excel” do? What does “Steam” do? What does “Balena” do? What does “Conky” do?
TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world
on 23 Feb 12:40
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Programs that we think of as being part of the OS, such as the included text editor, is a very different thing to something like Steam, imo.
Steam isn’t preinstalled on your PC, it’s not a core part of your desktop OS. You download Steam yourself, so you’d only do it once you already know what it is.
Third party apps kinda need unique names and branding like that to distinguish themselves.
A newbie won’t know what “Kate” or “Okular” do. They might know what “Dolphin” does because it has a folder as the app icon (although users of screen readers won’t see that). They will probably know what “Notepad” or “Text Editor” does, though.
Kate isn’t a part of the OS, though… the text editor that is a part of the OS is called “vi”.
TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world
on 23 Feb 19:12
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It literally is. It’s part of the KDE Plasma desktop. It comes preinstalled.
The Vim, nano command line text editors also being there doesn’t mean Kate isn’t an OS app.
Would you say the Dolphin file explorer isn’t an OS/system app on the basis that you can use commands like cd, mv, cp, pwd in terminal? Because I certainly wouldn’t.
felixwhynot@lemmy.world
on 23 Feb 08:41
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NaibofTabr@infosec.pub
on 23 Feb 09:01
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So… who wants to bet that the new version of Notepad is not constantly scraping anything you type into it and feeding it into the AI, regardless of whether you’re paying for this feature or not?
Npp has normal, with special characters and regex, does sublime has something better there?
Khanzarate@lemmy.world
on 23 Feb 12:20
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They said UI, so I don’t think they meant features. But honestly I’ve never been unhappy with their UI, aside from one day with multiple replaces across a few files where the autofill from clipboard kept deleting the expression I wanted to be in there as I navigated through what I needed to do.
But that was fine, anyway, it got through it and I’m just happy with the “apply to all open documents” setting. Saved me at least an hour.
The regex engine was not full featured last time I tried. Done know which implementation they use, but it was lacking basic features like end of line matching (if I remember correctly).
I’m a happy sublime user myself but the search UI is one thing I particularly don’t like about it.
AcesFullOfKings@feddit.uk
on 23 Feb 11:10
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I like how sublime looks. But it is absolutely ridiculous that is has no settings UI and expects you to go and manually edit a json file to change even basic settings. Insane. So that’s a no from me.
Tbf, they already control the os itself. They already have access to all of the keystrokes. Implementing it just in notepad feels like a rube goldbergy way of scraping user data.
actaastron@reddthat.com
on 23 Feb 12:52
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I usually use my work laptop for personal bits and bobs which is Ubuntu but I turned on my personal Microsoft PC recently to do some stuff and couldn’t believe all the pop-ups and noise! I promptly moved all my data onto a external drive and did a fresh install of Ubuntu.
But_my_mom_says_im_cool@lemmy.world
on 23 Feb 21:02
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All the Linux posts and Linux loving Lemmy users are what keep me away from Linux.
They’re like the Rick and Morty fans of PC software
Matriks404@lemmy.world
on 23 Feb 12:29
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People at Microsoft doesn’t understand what people use Notepad for.
If they wanted to add AI features, they should have added it to WordPad, and make it more modern / add some useful functions.
CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com
on 23 Feb 12:55
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Yeah but no one uses wordpad. They put it in notepad for the exact reason you’re saying: because people use it.
If they made it more useful, people would use it. Making support for modern formats, maybe even Markdown could have been added and it would already be 5x more useful. Also add another set of basic features like tables, some advanced formatting to the mix as well.
If they made Wordpad generate Markdown instead of RTF (or as well as, but by default) then I’d consider using it. As it is, I already pay for a Jetbrains license, so I just use Fleet. Massive overkill for note-taking, but it’s there and it works.
I can understand separating a new paid-only feature, especially if you don’t much need that part. The new features are reportedly accessible from the GUI of Notepad so I wouldn’t blame anyone else who thought “NOTEPAD” asked them to sign up and pay a subscription to use “NOTEPAD” features.
I used to rage when reading bad changes to Windows, even after I’d stopped using it. Now I just feel bad that my friends are still in that a bad relationship with their computer.
ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.com
on 23 Feb 14:47
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Freemium dark patterns are also enshittification. It’s slight clickbait/ragebait, but not far off.
cupcakezealot@lemmy.blahaj.zone
on 23 Feb 13:41
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isn’t the paywall for notepad buying windows and a computer?
spooky2092@lemmy.blahaj.zone
on 23 Feb 13:49
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Fucking click bait garbage article, but thankfully the article has a tldr at the top that basically contradicts the headline and saves you minutes of time to realize you’ve been baited;
TL;DR: Microsoft has introduced a paywall for Notepad, requiring a Microsoft 365 subscription to access new features like the AI-powered Rewrite tool.
Better headline: Microsoft forces you to pay to suffer through using their AI tool that no one asked for, application otherwise unchanged.
MorningThunder@lemm.ee
on 23 Feb 15:56
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This seems like something that should be kept local. What’s the point of all these NPUs otherwise
__nobodynowhere@sh.itjust.works
on 23 Feb 19:31
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LLMs in general is a tool no in one asked for
melroy@kbin.melroy.org
on 23 Feb 14:29
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I don't think it's ragebait/clickbait. I think it's really problematic that just a simple text editor get this bad by enshittification.
Clearly this is a controversial statement. I’m team “use what’s available and preference tools that get the job done quickly.”
I work in several different languages. VSCode has TreeSitter and a bevy of slick plug-ins. NP++ does not. I can use VSCode on both Windows and Linux. If I’ve got a desktop environment, I will hands down pick VSCode over NP++ every time.
Completely agreed. At one point, maybe 12 years ago, I remember trying to learn NP++'s macro system. It was better than whatever we had at the time, but I’m glad I didn’t spend more time than I had to. Just a couple months ago, a coworker was raving about how great NP++ macros are … to do a task handily solved by some light regular expressions and/or column edit mode. Both REs and CEM are far more ubiquitous concepts than some bespoke, domain-specific language for defining repetitive tasks.
MarkalAlvarez@lemmy.world
on 23 Feb 15:27
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It should be noted that you can still use Notepad without a Microsoft account, and users can go as far as removing the Rewrite icon completely from Notepad. Despite the ability to still use the software without an account, Microsoft has received some criticism for implementing what is most definitely a paywall/advertisement for a built-in piece of Windows software.
werefreeatlast@lemmy.world
on 23 Feb 17:07
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Used only in cases where everything else is not readily available… Pencil, pen, blood, boogers etc. But the most easily replaceable piece of software. Literally you could just paste into a browser’s URL box to do the same job. Lol. There must be some dumb fuck heading Microsoft right now.
lengau@midwest.social
on 23 Feb 17:49
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Notepad has long been a testbed for new technology in Windows. This isn’t just a sign of enshittification, it’s a warning that they want to do more.
Gnome is an opinionated desktop environment and that turns some people off. But it’s bold enough to make some design decisions and have a limited scope. KDE tries to be another Windows alternative.
Of course, you could go with a tiling window manager but my vote goes to Gnome. I’ve had a very smooth experience on Gnome for the last couple years.
Mic_Check_One_Two@reddthat.com
on 23 Feb 23:11
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Yeah, Gnome is like the Apple of the Linux world. The devs have the same kind of “we know better than you do” mentality towards design. The issue tracker is a lot of “hey the OS won’t let me do [edge-case scenario that an OS should be able to do, but which most users won’t bother with]” followed by the devs going “Gnome isn’t designed to support [edge-case scenario]. Bug report closed.” Like the devs have a very “it’s not a bug; It’s a feature” mentality, and anyone who runs into that bug must be using the OS “wrong”.
EarlGrey@discuss.tchncs.de
on 23 Feb 22:23
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I want a clean, advanced, well designed desktop and Im okay with redoing my work flow
Use Gnome
Gnome is cool but can it be slightly more Windows?
Use Cosmic (PopOS)
I want lots of customization, advanced features, and a traditional windows desktop metaphor
Use KDE
I want Windows and don’t really care about customization
It’s so stupid that they’re making these additions to notepad. There is a need to have a basic text editor on an OS that isn’t going to try to “help” by giving recommendations, automatically backs up files or whatever other shit they’re trying to jam into it.
They had wordpad and if they wanted to add additional features into that, that’s completely fine. There are use cases for something that does a bit more than a simple text editor like notepad can do.
My guess is that they tracked that people used notepad more often than wordpad so they removed wordpad. Then started making notepad more like wordpad without considering why people used notepad more frequently.
threaded - newest
Could MS suck any worse? It’s like they want people to not use their products. Capitalism is the ouroboros.
Full access to notepad? So what, I need to pay to be able to toggle text wrapping or look at the about menu? It’s fucking notepad.
EDIT: I didnt expect so many downvotes taking sides with MS
hahahahahaha, they're gonna charge admission to a dead end next. ta-da!!!!
It’s for the “AI” no one was asking for in the first place
You obviously didn’t read the article, but that’s OK it’s a trash article anyway. Which is already indicated by the headline, since Notepad was never free, it’s just included with Windows.
But your comment is disconnected from what this is really about, which essentially boils down to nothing.
Since what you are supposed to pay for is new AI features. Otherwise you can use Notepad as usual.
So notepad isn’t behind a paywall, AI features nobody was asking for is behind a paywall, and this headline is bullshit.
That’s my takeaway.
That’s my understanding, yes
Eh. They shared those features to Notepad, so I would agree that they’re a part of it.
Fine. Notepad++ is better anyway
Is it though? I still always open notepad for random text stuff. What is better in ++?
Notepad++ isn’t trying to shoehorn in AI for starters. It’s clear Microsoft is praying the current gimmicky narrative of AI will let the masses not realize this is a privacy nightmare.
Notepad does that neither for me and has not for >20 years. So is there something that is actually better or not?
Yes, it objectively is. And so are various other text editor options that are out there.
But just speaking about Notepad++, you can scale it down to a very simple text editor (like Notepad), it you can easily ramp it up to a much more feature rich one. And for me, the ability to have a vertical list of files is a big plus. As is its ability to optionally show line numbers.
So it is better because it can do more, but I assume not too too much? Because then we can also use word?
They have different use cases. Notepad++ is for manipulating text, strings, and code. It’s got very powerful tools for it.
Word is for making things look pretty. You can change typefaces, fonts, size. You can add pictures and diagrams and arrange them on the page.
If you just need a quick window open to make a note you might actually prefer Sticky Notes over Notepad!
A lot of those are features of notepad.
Specifically: tabs, dark mode, and retention of unsaved documents. They’re apps for very different purposes, but Notepad has had some nice little updates over recent years.
Ah thanks for the first proper answer. Sounds good, I will give it a try.
A few of those features are available on Notepad as well, just FYI.
Ahh interesting. Is that a Windows 11 thing? I haven’t taken the plunge
Out if curiosity, which ones? Because I don’t see any of those features and am on W11…
On my W11 work machine I got dark mode, saving unsaved drafts and tabs
+10000 for notepad++, its he swiss army knife of file editing tools. Adding:
Plugins: CSV being read as a small dB table you can query is a game changer. Or have a JSON plugin that auto formats and queries as well as opens the JSON in a clickable nested window.
Pinned tabs: pin important tabs, I use one as a todo list.
Search for text within files in a folder: need to find a specific bit of text in one of dozens/hundreds/thousands/millions of files somewhere? Its lightning fast and works a treat
Search and replace with regex: amazing feature, use regex patterns to find complex parts of your files and replace them with something else Bulk operations: remove newline, replace line breaks etc
Multi format support: see line breaks from different OSs like Unix and windows and amend them Portable install: you dont have to install it, you can use a portable version
So much more, get it and you won’t look back.
Your first two points are part of Notepad now too. Everything else you’ve said is true though, including the find and replace function supporting regex. It’s amazingly powerful for editing.
It also supports line numbering, which seems like a small thing but is really helpful.
the only thing I need it for is to select text vertically (by holding left alt). there are a few similar ones for linux but some crash and the rest don’t have a dark theme, so I still use it with wine.
Holy moly, that works? I needed precisely that feature earlier! Nice.
It’s a lot more feature filled and frankly not very nice looking if all you want is a simple replacement for Notepad. Notepads (with an s) is much better imo.
I prefer Sublime
The title is quite sensational compared to the content. They only added an AI Rewrite feature for notepad that requires a Microsoft 365 subscription. Considering the cost of AI, and the fact that it will very probably run in the cloud, it is very reasonable that it isn’t free. Everything else about notepad remains free / included with the price you paid for the OS.
I agree, but the idea of adding AI to notepad is quite insane in its own right
I think the idea is that you can use it for reformatting small sets of data I guess.
“make all the dates in this CSV iso-8601”
Genuinely very useful, however I feel that can be achieved without a login and paid AI subscription.
Heck, it probably can be done with a regex. (Yeah, I know)
There’s no need to kill three forests just to do the exact same work you could have done by opening your dataset in Excel.
You’re right of course.
Like the other commenter said for this specific problem you’d use a spreadsheet.
It’s just an example though and there are others, like maybe removing url encoding from a string or something.
Again this can be done in some other tool without much fuss, but the versatility offered by notepad will be useful for a lot of people.
Adding layers to paint was what surprised me
That’s actually very nice, one of the few Microsoft programs that I genuinely miss - layers are a quality of life feature that is actually really nice to have 👍
the news is more that they are trying to shoehorn AI in effing Notepad to make sure even those little snippets of text can be used for training
www.sublimetext.com
Notepad++ is my text editor of choice as someone who just edits the occasional file. I’m not a programmer or anything, but it’s nice to have those autocomplete and syntax highlighting features for config files. Helps me keep track of stuff better when editing.
Sublime can do all of that as well, but it’s more performant, has better shortcut keys, and IMO it has much nicer navigation for larger files (gives you a sort of eagle-eye’s view of the entire document next to the scrollbar). That’s all very much a personal preference thing of course.
Hell yeah. I just wanted to add another option. I have no opinion regarding Sublime and choice is a good thing. There’s something for everyone.
Fuck Ai. I just want Notepad to edit the most basic text. Why the fuck would I need fucking Ai bullshit in it? To rewrite what? INI game files? Hosts file?
Notepad is not free! Bah ha ha ha. Anyway, tons of options out there for those not to lazy to look.
The fact that they choose to mess with Notepad is more telling than the value it has given the alternatives.
[obligatory linux boast]
I really prefer Kate to Notepad because KDE makes superior, non AI encrusted software that actually works for it's users. And it's FREE!
I love Kate.
thanks!
♥️♥️♥️
Me too! So much so that I have sworn to name my first secretary Kate.
Even though it's typically associated with KDE and Linux, it's also available on Windows. Good for people who haven't made up their mind yet. It's a great text editor with a feature-set similar to other advanced notepads.
I'll be real though, if I hadn't jumped ship 3 years ago, I'd be cutting my losses with Windows here.
personally i find kate struggles with large files. KWrite is a better analog to notepad IMO
I like Kate as a program but man KDE need to change how some of their app names appear in Plasma.
A new user looking through their start menu and seeing “Kate” will have no idea it’s a text editor/notepad. The same is true for multiple other programs.
Okular, Dolphin, Cantata… ask someone who’s never tried Plasma before what those programs do and I’d wager you’d get an incorrect answer for each one.
There is actually an option to do that iirc. You can have it show entry descriptions.
<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/f468d2ca-d55e-41e9-828b-d071ce8082ca.png">
Indeed. That’s what I do on my Plasma system, it’s a good option.
But a new user or someone who isn’t technical won’t see that, they don’t go digging through settings in each app, they just use the defaults.
I guess a solid compromise would be to enable this by default, and anybody who doesn’t like that short descriptor can disable it.
But IMO nothing will beat the no-nonsense straightforwardness of calling OS apps immediately intuitive names. This is something I believe Gnome gets right. Go onto their GitHub and their file manager is called Nautilus, but on your system it will default to being called “Files”, because they know everyone will understand what “Files” is but a lot of people would ask “Wtf is Nautilus??”, same goes for other apps, e.g. “Loupe” appearing as “Image Viewer”.
What does “Excel” do? What does “Steam” do? What does “Balena” do? What does “Conky” do?
Programs that we think of as being part of the OS, such as the included text editor, is a very different thing to something like Steam, imo.
Steam isn’t preinstalled on your PC, it’s not a core part of your desktop OS. You download Steam yourself, so you’d only do it once you already know what it is.
Third party apps kinda need unique names and branding like that to distinguish themselves.
A newbie won’t know what “Kate” or “Okular” do. They might know what “Dolphin” does because it has a folder as the app icon (although users of screen readers won’t see that). They will probably know what “Notepad” or “Text Editor” does, though.
Kate isn’t a part of the OS, though… the text editor that is a part of the OS is called “vi”.
It literally is. It’s part of the KDE Plasma desktop. It comes preinstalled.
The Vim, nano command line text editors also being there doesn’t mean Kate isn’t an OS app.
Would you say the Dolphin file explorer isn’t an OS/system app on the basis that you can use commands like cd, mv, cp, pwd in terminal? Because I certainly wouldn’t.
I use Vim, actually
There always has to be one…
Same.
Just use
edif you’re feeling so fancy!linux@programming.dev could use more folks!
So… who wants to bet that the new version of Notepad is not constantly scraping anything you type into it and feeding it into the AI, regardless of whether you’re paying for this feature or not?
Sublime text ftw
Notepad++ on windows is kind of the GOAT IMO.
The search and replace UX is 10 years behind. The sole reason I use sublime text instead
Npp has normal, with special characters and regex, does sublime has something better there?
They said UI, so I don’t think they meant features. But honestly I’ve never been unhappy with their UI, aside from one day with multiple replaces across a few files where the autofill from clipboard kept deleting the expression I wanted to be in there as I navigated through what I needed to do.
But that was fine, anyway, it got through it and I’m just happy with the “apply to all open documents” setting. Saved me at least an hour.
They achtually said UX which is User Experience.
The regex engine was not full featured last time I tried. Done know which implementation they use, but it was lacking basic features like end of line matching (if I remember correctly).
I’m a happy sublime user myself but the search UI is one thing I particularly don’t like about it.
I like how sublime looks. But it is absolutely ridiculous that is has no settings UI and expects you to go and manually edit a json file to change even basic settings. Insane. So that’s a no from me.
Tbf, they already control the os itself. They already have access to all of the keystrokes. Implementing it just in notepad feels like a rube goldbergy way of scraping user data.
<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/b102fd14-1ae9-4c64-965e-d4db83d4ab4d.png">
I usually use my work laptop for personal bits and bobs which is Ubuntu but I turned on my personal Microsoft PC recently to do some stuff and couldn’t believe all the pop-ups and noise! I promptly moved all my data onto a external drive and did a fresh install of Ubuntu.
All the Linux posts and Linux loving Lemmy users are what keep me away from Linux.
They’re like the Rick and Morty fans of PC software
People at Microsoft doesn’t understand what people use Notepad for.
If they wanted to add AI features, they should have added it to WordPad, and make it more modern / add some useful functions.
Yeah but no one uses wordpad. They put it in notepad for the exact reason you’re saying: because people use it.
If they made it more useful, people would use it. Making support for modern formats, maybe even Markdown could have been added and it would already be 5x more useful. Also add another set of basic features like tables, some advanced formatting to the mix as well.
If they made Wordpad generate Markdown instead of RTF (or as well as, but by default) then I’d consider using it. As it is, I already pay for a Jetbrains license, so I just use Fleet. Massive overkill for note-taking, but it’s there and it works.
Microsoft killed Wordpad
They killed wordpad.
Add it to OneNote then?
Can’t wait for them to remove Calculator, since you can ask AI to calculate stuff, you know.
Ragebait. Notepad is still free. If you want to use Rewrite, then you pay for that.
I can understand separating a new paid-only feature, especially if you don’t much need that part. The new features are reportedly accessible from the GUI of Notepad so I wouldn’t blame anyone else who thought “NOTEPAD” asked them to sign up and pay a subscription to use “NOTEPAD” features.
I used to rage when reading bad changes to Windows, even after I’d stopped using it. Now I just feel bad that my friends are still in that a bad relationship with their computer.
Freemium dark patterns are also enshittification. It’s slight clickbait/ragebait, but not far off.
isn’t the paywall for notepad buying windows and a computer?
Fucking click bait garbage article, but thankfully the article has a tldr at the top that basically contradicts the headline and saves you minutes of time to realize you’ve been baited;
Better headline: Microsoft forces you to pay to suffer through using their AI tool that no one asked for, application otherwise unchanged.
This seems like something that should be kept local. What’s the point of all these NPUs otherwise
LLMs in general is a tool no in one asked for
I don't think it's ragebait/clickbait. I think it's really problematic that just a simple text editor get this bad by enshittification.
Gotta squeeze every single cent from every single opportunity, otherwise line might not go up indefinitely.
Sounds like they’re slipping cloud based AI assistance into the deal, which is the opposite of what Notepad is “good” for.
But it is though, it’s for a feature that you don’t need and can just turn off and never see again…
If you must use windows, Notepad++ is the way to go.
VSCode is better than np++ in every way
Startup time. RAM consumption. Privacy.
I guess you’re doing it wrong then? Stop parroting memes
vscodium fixes the privacy anyway. It’s always open so startup times are no issue for me.
I still prefer to keep a stripped down, basic text editor though. Ah well, I’m not on windows so no big deal.
What do you use instead? Sublime?
For plain text, either nano on CLI or whatever built in basic text editor comes with LMDE.
Windows I used notepad, from now on I’ll add ++ :)
At the cost of some features not working (e.g. Pylance, which is the default Python extension, as well as others by MS).
I heavily use both and this is objectively untrue.
Those are 2 different use case pieces of software . NP++ is an editor while vscode is an IDE
Install time? Startup time? Useless bloat?
Clearly this is a controversial statement. I’m team “use what’s available and preference tools that get the job done quickly.”
I work in several different languages. VSCode has TreeSitter and a bevy of slick plug-ins. NP++ does not. I can use VSCode on both Windows and Linux. If I’ve got a desktop environment, I will hands down pick VSCode over NP++ every time.
Otherwise, let’s be real, NeoVim is king.
NP++ was good 20 years ago during a time with much weaker competition and it’s been coasting on that good will ever since
It’s OK for a text editor (compared to something totally basic like notepad) but other text editors have caught up in every single category
like you said, VS Code is now the default go to code editor for a lot of people. if you don’t use VS Code, you use vim.
for non-coding uses, I don’t see the functional difference between NP++ or something basic like Gnome’s text editor
Completely agreed. At one point, maybe 12 years ago, I remember trying to learn NP++'s macro system. It was better than whatever we had at the time, but I’m glad I didn’t spend more time than I had to. Just a couple months ago, a coworker was raving about how great NP++ macros are … to do a task handily solved by some light regular expressions and/or column edit mode. Both REs and CEM are far more ubiquitous concepts than some bespoke, domain-specific language for defining repetitive tasks.
ed is better
<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/320a930a-7c2a-49f1-b200-ca32a591c62f.png">
Used only in cases where everything else is not readily available… Pencil, pen, blood, boogers etc. But the most easily replaceable piece of software. Literally you could just paste into a browser’s URL box to do the same job. Lol. There must be some dumb fuck heading Microsoft right now.
Notepad has long been a testbed for new technology in Windows. This isn’t just a sign of enshittification, it’s a warning that they want to do more.
The recent update was the first time in decades they’ve touched it. How has it ‘long been a testbed of new technology’ ?
Linux
End of conversation.
I think that’s the start of the conversation. Which Desktop Environment?
Well… it just removes so much toxicity from the outset
IMO:
want to show off? i3wm with gaps and rofi for menu launcher. Add it some transparency effects too.
want the MacOS style? Gnome. Default on a lot of distros.
want something stable? XFCE. Install and forget.
Things preventing me from moving to Linux : video games and Adobe Lightroom.
Most video games work through proton on Steam. Lightroom has a web app you can use instead.
Plus RawTherapee and DarkTable are pretty good, and actually free, Lightroom alternatives to boot.
…my cracked version of Adobe CS6
I really like my KDE plasma
Gnome is an opinionated desktop environment and that turns some people off. But it’s bold enough to make some design decisions and have a limited scope. KDE tries to be another Windows alternative.
Of course, you could go with a tiling window manager but my vote goes to Gnome. I’ve had a very smooth experience on Gnome for the last couple years.
Yeah, Gnome is like the Apple of the Linux world. The devs have the same kind of “we know better than you do” mentality towards design. The issue tracker is a lot of “hey the OS won’t let me do [edge-case scenario that an OS should be able to do, but which most users won’t bother with]” followed by the devs going “Gnome isn’t designed to support [edge-case scenario]. Bug report closed.” Like the devs have a very “it’s not a bug; It’s a feature” mentality, and anyone who runs into that bug must be using the OS “wrong”.
I want a clean, advanced, well designed desktop and Im okay with redoing my work flow
Use Gnome
Gnome is cool but can it be slightly more Windows?
Use Cosmic (PopOS)
I want lots of customization, advanced features, and a traditional windows desktop metaphor
Use KDE
I want Windows and don’t really care about customization
Use Cinnamon
Dude the Windows 9x look was fucking dope
Use Mate
Im installing this on a potato
Use XFCE
Thanks god that I’m not using windows for 4 years now, and at least notepad++ exists.
It’s like they want people to use npp instead
Why would a bot be using notepad?
lol fuck that
I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple does something like this too at some point in the future
Good thing whenever I set up Windows, Notepad is one of the things I nuke, using Geany to replace it.
Geany FTW!
They could’ve added this to wordpad if they didn’t kill it.
Notepad++ is way better anyway
And around 20 years ago I did go all-in Linux.
It’s so stupid that they’re making these additions to notepad. There is a need to have a basic text editor on an OS that isn’t going to try to “help” by giving recommendations, automatically backs up files or whatever other shit they’re trying to jam into it.
They had wordpad and if they wanted to add additional features into that, that’s completely fine. There are use cases for something that does a bit more than a simple text editor like notepad can do.
My guess is that they tracked that people used notepad more often than wordpad so they removed wordpad. Then started making notepad more like wordpad without considering why people used notepad more frequently.