Fuck this article. Title is insanely misleading. The paywall is for 1 specific AI feature, not the Notepad program itself.
this post was submitted on 21 Feb 2025
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Enshittification
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What is enshittification?
The phenomenon of online platforms gradually degrading the quality of their services, often by promoting advertisements and sponsored content, in order to increase profits. (Cory Doctorow, 2022, extracted from Wikitionary) source
The lifecycle of Big Internet
We discuss how predatory big tech platforms live and die by luring people in and then decaying for profit.
Embrace, extend and extinguish
We also discuss how naturally open technologies like the Fediverse can be susceptible to corporate takeovers, rugpulls and subsequent enshittification.
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Even when I had to use Windows, I used Notepad++. Microsoft's Notepad has messed up the formatting of so many text files, over the years no one should even consider it.
That said, why would anyone even want or need AI for what should be just a simple text editor?
It has never been free since you bought it together with the windows license :^)
Now it's another micro transaction on top of the product you already paid for.
They will do it with ma office, although you can use cracked version.
I use linux but I just checked on my windows 11 vm, the paywall is for AI copilot stuff not the core functionality of the app at all.
Wow what an overdramatic headline then, I mean at this level it's not even clickbait it's straight up lies.
And this is why Windows is always the laughing stock. Use Notepad++ for Windows, or literally anything you want (including a fork of N++ called "Notepad qq") on Linux.
The article says it's to enable some AI rewrite shit. So basically if you want normal functionality, everything is normal. If you want something they are investing billions of dollars into for reasons unknown to modify your text, you have to pay them.
It actually sounds reasonable. Want this expensive shit? Pay for it. No? Don't.
Why are you justifying bloat?
The first thing I do when setting up new Windows environments (for work) is to install Notepad++. Fuck Microsoft.
This is why they got rid of WordPad.
And no, I don't want AI crap in my basic note-taking app.
I have been a Notepad ++ user for years. I sometimes forget that the Microsoft Notepad even exists.
good cause literally anything else is better than notepad so if this pushes people to download literally anything else instead it's a good development
hopefully linux.
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Dammit! I love notebook. Truly I didn't know it was Microsoft.
This is Notepad
Will you need a subscription to turn-off the computer now?
I imagine adding a fine to using the psu switch would make it truly the year of linux.
How do I get started on Linux?
After classes where we learned to interact with a server linux I realized this isn't half as bad as the stuff I had to do in windows to get my mouse wheel scrolling flipped or troubleshoot MH:W crashes. Then one friend mentioned fedora. Next thing I know in a fit of rage after not finding "show hidden folders" in their usual place I had fedora installed. Other than tricky bits that are hard to realize yourself (like secureboot requiring turned off or key enrollment for some software and linux steam not liking windows filesystem) it was easier than windows.
Theres mint and some gaming distros to pick from, I reccomend just watching a tier list and a video on whatever catches your intrest. Desktop linux is good enough you can just install it and not look back. If you find yourself using the command line often I reccomend googling what the commands mean so you understand what's happening, as it uses a shorthand. It will make it easier to understand that linux is not harder than windows, it has a different logic to being an advanced user.
Choose an operating system (common choices for newcomers are typically linux mint or ubuntu, but your choice of OS really doesn't matter imo). Burn the OS image onto a flashdrive, and boot into the flashdrive. Then follow the install instructions onscreen.
Just download Linux Mint and don't look back. I knew I was done with Windows completely so I quit cold turkey. It forced me to learn how to use Linux instead of running back to a Windows partition. The only reason to dual boot in my opinion is if you need the popular CAD software, or the popular Digital Audio Workstation software, or software like photoshop. If you just browse and game, then you should be fine.
I believe Linux Mint is the oldest beginner distro so it has a wealth of forum posts if you ever have a problem. It also has a bunch of GUI progams included for getting stuff done without terminal, but make no mistake you will have to use the terminal to do stuff on occasion, it all depends how you use you're computer and how much you want to customize. Don't be afraid of terminal though, just start with basic YouTube tutorials.
The last piece of advice I feel I should give is when switching to Linux you'll have to get used to installing software in mutiple ways. Linux Mint is great because you have access to all the major ways software is direstributed on Linux. I use the apt package manager, sometimes by adding new software repos to it, AppImages, Flatpack, and .deb packages. I usually just use whatever method is recommended on a softwares website. For Appimages definitely use the AppImageLauncher manager software.
Last thing. I see a fair number of bad opinions of Cinnamon, the Desktop Environment that ships with Linux Mint, but I've never understood why. It's very familiar to a Windows user, has a simle UI, and has any feature I've needed.
That's my two cents from a relatively recent Windows refugee. I know distro wars can get heated, so remember this is just one opinion on what a good entry point is for the world of Linux.
If you need a good DAW that works natively in Linux then I can recommend Bitwig. Myself am still stuck on windows since I do use software and codecs that can't. Codec limitations in DaVinci resolve, and I'm still not feeling like leaving LR+PS since it's so integral to my workflow for photography gigs, once I'm fully transitioned to cinematography it might be an option.
I should really get around to making a dual-boot Mint though so I can at least start poking around in there, no excuse there besides procrastination.
Linux Mint is based heavily on Ubuntu, which is based on Debian. They also ship a version called Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE), which is based directly on - you guessed it - Debian.
LMDE is what I run on my laptop. I don't like the direction Ubuntu is going.
What have you tried so far?
Are you actually joking
Can't wait for the task manager to get forced AI support that terminates processes automatically, so that they can paywall it, too...
This is literally not an example of enshittification and the article is intentionally misleading.
First of all, all of the original Notepad functions are unchanged and still free.
Literally nothing got shittier.
Which is why describing Notepad as getting a paywall is quite frankly flat out disingenuous.
They are adding new, cloud running, AI features to Notepad that are locked behind a paywall. You can not like that for whatever reason, but that's not an example of enshittification. That's an example of them charging for new functionality.
Having ads and bloat does make it shittier. It's like tetris: more tetrinos, lootboxes and MTX don't make tetris better. It makes it worse.
The whole point of notepad is that it's a lightweight minimalist app that makes opening/editing text files as fast as possible while also being robustly reliable because of its simplicity. These are its core features. Adding pop-ups and more advanced features makes it slower to use and more complex, and with more complexity there is more chance for issues. Therefore the key advantages of notepad are shittier-->enshitificstion
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I switched to Linux recently, you can too. It's easy and works well now. No more of this bullshit from Microsoft.
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