this post was submitted on 23 Feb 2025
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[–] [email protected] 244 points 1 month ago (2 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 175 points 1 month ago (3 children)

I agree, but the idea of adding AI to notepad is quite insane in its own right

[–] [email protected] 39 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Adding layers to paint was what surprised me

[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 month ago

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 👍

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 month ago (6 children)

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"

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[–] [email protected] 135 points 1 month ago (8 children)

This is misinformation. They added the login requirement for their Generative AI and the actual notepad doesn't require a login. But I guess we're ragebaiting today.

[–] [email protected] 40 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Upvoted for visibility.

I recommend Notepad++.

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Having this LLM bullshit in Notepad should be the real news

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[–] [email protected] 97 points 1 month ago (21 children)

Fine. Notepad++ is better anyway

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 month ago (1 children)

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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[–] [email protected] 81 points 1 month ago (5 children)
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[–] [email protected] 70 points 1 month ago (18 children)

If you must use windows, Notepad++ is the way to go.

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[–] [email protected] 66 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 60 points 1 month ago (3 children)

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?

[–] [email protected] 33 points 1 month ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 month ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 month ago (6 children)

Notepad++ on windows is kind of the GOAT IMO.

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[–] [email protected] 39 points 1 month ago

Well it's a good thing there's no shortage of free replacements.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 1 month ago (17 children)

My understanding of the different operating systems

MacOS: One time hardware payment for their service (plus for every other device)

Linux: Free as in price free and freedom

Windows: 30+ subscriptions to edit 1 file, then cooldown till next day or upgrade subscriptions to enterpise version for a kidney/per user/per month.

TitleChomeOS: Communism for the children, supported by the Education System

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Apple heavily pushes their users towards iCloud subscriptions. More so on iOS than macOS but still.

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[–] [email protected] 35 points 1 month ago (5 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 month ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (5 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 month ago (2 children)
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[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Are people just going to keep reposting this misleading shit headline of a post until no one reads the article and just goes along with it?

Are the people constantly reposting this even reading the article and realizing how illiterate they look?

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 month ago (2 children)

The click bait will never die my friend.

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Linux

End of conversation.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 month ago (15 children)

I think that's the start of the conversation. Which Desktop Environment?

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 month ago (2 children)

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

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 month ago

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

[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 month ago (17 children)

[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!

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Thanks god that I'm not using windows for 4 years now, and at least notepad++ exists.

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 month ago

Notepad++ is way better anyway

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 month ago (2 children)
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[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 month ago (3 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 month ago

lol fuck that

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 month ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 month ago (2 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Microsoft what the fuck are you doing.

You fucking idiot's.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 month ago (5 children)

Finally, I can proudly proclaim that I'm no longer bound Microsoft's bullshit. Been a rocky start, but I've been happily using Kubuntu on my Surface for a while now, and it's going awesome

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

It should be noted that you can still use Notepad without a Microsoft account

Despite the ability to still use the software without an account

Are we not doing context anymore?

What is this? Just outrage for the sake of outrage?

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 month ago

The year of the Linux desktop has arrived.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 month ago (13 children)

How much shit are people going to endure before realizing Windows isn't for them any more?

Dump the damn thing and use Linux. Yes, Linux is friendly, easy to use, you can play most games, you don't need your proprietary programs because there are Free alternatives that are just as good that might take you a moment to adjust to (don't cry about how it's different, that's Baby Duck Syndrome), and so on.

And Microsoft facilitates fascism and government spyware and all sorts of evil crap. So does Apple. And Google. Throw away your phone, use Linux on your PCs, free yourself.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 month ago

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?

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