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Microsoft phases out WordPad (and Cortana) after 28 years of duty (alternativeto.net)
submitted 9 months ago by QuentinCallaghan@sopuli.xyz to c/technology@beehaw.org
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WordPad got into the shadow of MS Office and Notepad anyways.

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[-] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 41 points 9 months ago

This development aligns with Microsoft's ongoing initiative to streamline its software offerings and concentrate on more sophisticated applications.

Gross corpospeak. Translated as "We never invested in this because we want you to buy the paid version. Now that the paid version has completely eclipsed the free version we will be deprecating it"

[-] jarfil@beehaw.org 7 points 9 months ago

Alternatively: "Not enough people cared to use this stuff, so we'll shift our efforts towards stuff that our users care more about".

Agreed on the corpospeak, though.

[-] belated_frog_pants@beehaw.org 6 points 9 months ago

100% corpo bullshit but laymen have moved to google docs for better or worse.

[-] GentlemanLoser@ttrpg.network 3 points 9 months ago

How would you prefer they say it? Unless you mean to say they're not within their rights to stop giving away a product?

[-] off_brand_@beehaw.org 8 points 9 months ago

They were never giving it away. They included wordpad with your purchase of windows. They no longer do. I don't think anyone is saying that windows is not "within their rights", they're saying that this degrades the product we already pay for. That is worth complaining about, even if our ultimate recourse primarily ends up being to find an OS that better serves our needs.

Honestly though I'm struggling to understand why you'd think that's about Microsoft's rights to begin with??

[-] JCPhoenix@beehaw.org 7 points 9 months ago

But if it's not being developed (that's my assumption as I haven't touched WordPad in many, many years) and not many people are using it (again, I'm assuming based on my own personal experiences and those in the workplace), what's wrong with removing a legacy system?

People complain all the time about Microsoft retaining legacy systems, often seemingly detrimentally, so here it is, an opportunity to remove a legacy system, but now it's bad?

I get that not everyone has Word. But Word isn't as paywalled as it once was. There's the web version of Word, that's free to use with a free Microsoft account. There's Google Docs, also free with a gmail account. And there's of course OpenOffice and LibreOffice, obviously free. So users have options for word processing that are better than WordPad.

[-] GentlemanLoser@ttrpg.network 3 points 9 months ago

The specific complaint was "gross corpospeak". Let's go ahead and use your explanation of the situation instead of mine, as it is indeed more accurate: how would you disseminate this change to your customers in a way that's not "gross corpospeak"?

[-] off_brand_@beehaw.org 4 points 9 months ago

I can't speak for the original commented, but I'm personally quite tired of the thin veneer that's slapped into these statements. I would prefer a company just be honest and talk about the profit incentives. They want people using the free version to please pay for the expensive one.

For my experience, I still retain the general irritation at product quality going down regardless of how they word it. But now I'm also annoyed that MS isn't being straightforward about it.

[-] t3rmit3@beehaw.org 3 points 9 months ago

I mean, I think they literally provided the preferred, truthful version of the statement?

“We never invested in this because we want you to buy the paid version. Now that the paid version has completely eclipsed the free version we will be deprecating it”

[-] ardi60@reddthat.com 14 points 9 months ago

that is sad. I like Wordpad. But, kate and Notepadnext is good alternatives

[-] t3rmit3@beehaw.org 7 points 9 months ago

This definitely sucks for the average, non-technical user. We can all use Sublime3 or Notepad++ or whatever other replacement tool we prefer, but the average user has no clue about those and will be tricked into thinking that paid-for Word is the only real easy and good option.

[-] greybeard@lemmy.one 15 points 9 months ago

This is Wordpad, not Notepad. There is still a perfectly functional plain text editor(until they decide to slam ads into it) for Windows. WordPad was a rich text editor. Sublime and Notepad++ don't really compete with that. LibreOffice and OnlyOffice exist for free in that space, but you are right that non-tech savvy users will struggle to find them on Windows.

[-] t3rmit3@beehaw.org 2 points 9 months ago

True, OpenOffice and LibreOffice are more direct replacements for a word-like interface. I use markdown for all my rich text editing needs, so in my mind Sublime3 and Notepad++ are the only replacement editors I think of (both support live markdown display with a plugin).

[-] mrGarbanzo@beehaw.org 5 points 9 months ago

Spread the word of libreoffice for those who don't want the ms office subscription

this post was submitted on 30 Jan 2024
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