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.
this post was submitted on 23 Feb 2025
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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?
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.
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?
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).
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.
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[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 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.
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.
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There is actually an option to do that iirc. You can have it show entry descriptions.
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personally i find kate struggles with large files. KWrite is a better analog to notepad IMO
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.
The fact that they choose to mess with Notepad is more telling than the value it has given the alternatives.
Notepad is not free! Bah ha ha ha. Anyway, tons of options out there for those not to lazy to look.
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 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.
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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
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
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 👍
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.
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Fine. Notepad++ is better anyway
I prefer Sublime
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.
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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.
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
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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
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.
It’s for the “AI” no one was asking for in the first place
hahahahahaha, they're gonna charge admission to a dead end next. ta-da!!!!
Could MS suck any worse? It’s like they want people to not use their products. Capitalism is the ouroboros.