Can you believe it? After 30 years of faithful service, Microsoft is finally pulling the plug on WordPad. The app that debuted with Windows 95, and lets you open a .doc file if you don’t have Word installed, is being shown the door.
But why now and what does it mean for your business?
Microsoft has declared that it will no longer update WordPad and will eventually remove it from Windows entirely. It was a low-key reveal, and it’s unclear when it will take place, but it’s on the way.
But, let’s be honest… How many times have you opened a document in WordPad when you meant to open it in Notepad?
For plain text, you need Notepad. WordPad is more similar to a word processor. Everyone gets them confused.
Could this common mistake be the cause of WordPad’s eventual demise? Perhaps Microsoft is attempting to get more customers to pay for Microsoft Word, a key component of its Microsoft 365 suite.
According to a recent update to Microsoft’s Windows deprecated features list, they advocate using Microsoft Word for rich text documents and Windows Notepad for plain text documents. To put it another way, “WordPad who?”
But let’s not get too sentimental here. As a lifelong Windows user, I can confess that I’ve mostly opened WordPad only by mistake. And if it does vanish, I won’t be losing sleep. There are plenty of alternative word processors available, but I prefer Word.
However, if you’re a diehard WordPad fan, don’t despair just yet. Microsoft is asking for feedback via the Windows Feedback Hub app. So, if there’s an outpouring of support, who knows? Maybe Microsoft will reconsider and allow WordPad to stick around, even if it’s just as an optional, rarely-updated app from the Microsoft Store.
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