After 40 years of being free Microsoft has added a paywall to Notepad

Notepad++.
That is all.
- I don't want to get into a text editor war - because these are all good options - but it's definitely also worth giving the "Kate" editor from KDE a go, it's available as a native Windows app from the MS store and everything:
  https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9NWMW7BB59HW
  I personally find it considerably nicer to use than Notepad++, and it means I don't have to give up 25 years of muscle memory for keyboard shortcuts when I have to switch to a windows machine.
  Also some crazy how, it uses less RAM than Notepad‽ (With no files open, 61 vs 71MB) Not sure what Microsoft are up to, but it's definitely something strange.
  
  To each their own for sure, but the takeaway here is that there are definitely better notepads than Notepad by now, especially since having AI baked into your plain text editor isn't something that anyone ever asked for.
  At this rate you may a well use a slab of some granite and a chisel, or maybe even vim.
  
  Been using nedit for a long time, then medit aka mooedit. When that became abandonware, I switched to Bluefish. Even though it's 100% what I need, it's the best for me, for now.
- Sublime Text
  
  In my opinion, Sublime Text is a little bit better for coding based applications, specifically with like HTML and CSS, even though Notepad++ is great for it too, but just for overall drag and drop replace, works with everything, wonderful, free and open source software, it is very, very difficult to beat Notepad++.
- gedit is available from the Microsoft store.
- I think you dropped this on the way in, king:
  https://notepad-plus-plus.org/
- Seconded!
  
  Does anyone still use Notepad?? xD

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.
- It's not even a simple "word" program - that's what write/WordPad was. Notepad is supposed to be just a bare bones text editor, like for altering an .ini file or writing a website in 1997.
  
  the same reason why every program gets an ai feature: data farming, and reason to ask money for it
  
  Why not? Who cares what they do? It's not enshittification to add new features.
  
  Don't use them if you don't want them. A paywall even helps you stick to that.
- The popup is shittier, also takes a lot longer to open than it used to, but yeah, the article is definitely misleading clickbait.
  
  It's sensationalist
- That's like how enshittification starts, "oh we're just going to paywall these features, don't worry all the old ones will be free!" And then the old parts start getting replaced by "New and improved!" Parts that also somehow need to be on the cloud and paywalled.
  
  The old parts are literally just a basic wrapper around the most basic WPF text control. Notepad is literally the kind of app used as a tutorial for intro to coding that you can crank out in half a day.
  There is no risk of it becoming proprietary or locked behind paywalls.
  This is a junk, click bait, article designed to drive up hysteria cause it gets engagement. Supporting trash misinformation outlets like this is far more corrosive then adding new paid features to an existing application.
- But the prompt to sign in is the default.
  The only way to get rid of it is through Settings.
- Why the hell would I need cloud AI functionality to edit basic txt files???????????
  
  VCs put a lot of money into AI, and they won't hesitate to kill you to make sure they get their money back.
  
  If you don't have a computer that can run a local AI model and want to use any of their text editing features?
  
  Assholes and idiots, aka Microsoft's core consumers
- 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
- 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.
- It's particular ironic how previously the big uproar was about adding these features in the first place. First it was "nobody wants this! Keep AI out of Notepad!" And now it's "how dare you prevent me from using AI in Notepad!"
  
  It's two sides of the same enshittification coin.

Linux baby
- Feels good
- That just raises the next question of which text editor to use
  
  Just use your DE's default default. Like Kate in KDE.
  NotepadQQ if you like Notepad++
  
  Nano or vi or pico or whatever floats your boat 😈
  
  EMACS, EMACS, EMACS!

Are you actually joking

I switched to Linux recently, you can too. It's easy and works well now. No more of this bullshit from Microsoft.
- Which version? And for those of us yet to switch, are there any handy guides that you'd recommend?
  
  For new comers Linux Mint is a great out-of-the-box experience. You will find tons of info and guide on youtube, but it's pretty much as simple as installing windows now.
  I personally like Fedora and Nobara but the latest sometimes break with updates so you need to handle this.
  You can try most distros in a virtual machine before installing, to get a general idea of the look and feels.
  
  I tried Bazzite first, and it was easy but I decided I didn't want an immutable system so I switched to Garuda. Both are very gaming focused and easy to get running.
- Can I build any custom PC and I have it run Linux ?
  What if I need to have Adobe Pro and MS Word full versions for work ?
  
  In regard to any custom PC, absolutely Linux runs on most hardware.
  Adobe, and word aren’t written native to Linux, there are solutions such as wine that can help, or you can dual boot or use a virtual machine
  
  I would build it with AMD or Intel components only personally, because Nvidia still relies on a closed-source driver.
  Adobe and Word will not work on Linux.
- Linux has always worked ok. It's the desktop environments that are unpolished. And the driver model.
  
  Unlike the polished experience in Windows where the UI completely changes every 5 years and there are, literally, 6 different menus for adjusting the volume because removing them literally breaks the kernel.
  
  I have chinese dac -amp, chifi microphone, screen tablet, usb speakers and let me tell you linux works like youd expect windows to and windows works like youd expect linux to. I enjoy no longer having to manually start tablet drivers and having dac drivers crash after switching to linux.

It boggles the mind the things MS does to their OS without any apparent shame.
- Imaginary money line must go up

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAA
HA
HA
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AHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAHA

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.

Can't wait for the task manager to get forced AI support that terminates processes automatically, so that they can paywall it, too...

- I can hear this image

I have been a Notepad ++ user for years. I sometimes forget that the Microsoft Notepad even exists.

Next step: add IA to minesweeper and solitaire under a paywall

LOL that's like peak enshittification right there.

It's the AI features.
- Which have absolutely no place in notepad, and no one asked for.

Fuck this article. Title is insanely misleading. The paywall is for 1 specific AI feature, not the Notepad program itself.

This is why they got rid of WordPad.
And no, I don't want AI crap in my basic note-taking app.

The first thing I do when setting up new Windows environments (for work) is to install Notepad++. Fuck Microsoft.

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.

Fuck Microsoft. Why bringing Notepad to Microsoft 365 service in the first place? OneNote isn't good?

who asked for this, I get the article sucks. but like.... it's just supposed to be a simple text editor and I think I'm right to worry about what will happen to the features that don't make the money. the people saying.. just don't pay for it if you don't wanna use it.. didn't change the fact that this is just additional bloat added to something that doesn't even need it....
they literally already have vscode, which is fantastic.. why not just push that a little harder and add features like these over there and not into flipping notepad xD
the tabbing functionality is a godsend and requested. this just feels weird imo

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?

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?

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.

How do I get started on Linux?
- 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.
  
  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.
  
  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.
- 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.
- 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.
- What have you tried so far?

Its actually good because its just the LL/VM things
- Which shouldn't be in notepad to start with.

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.

At this point anyone that voluntary uses windows is just braindead. I love Linux but if you don't wanna use that then even Mac is better than that... For now
- Just to clarify, when you say voluntarily does that except people who need specific programs that just can't be used on Linux? Because it would in my mind.
- Did you mean to suggest that Mac is better than Linux? In what way?
  
  They meant better than what MS is doing. Basically Linux would be choice one, but failing that get a Mac. Until they go the same direction.
- I disagree, VR, simflight, good cad software, archicad (or if you are somehow deep in stockholm syndrome) adobe need windows. Also smaller stuff like race datalogger data analysis program doesn't exist on linux. Linux does not have enough users to have solutions for everything. Yet. For kernel AC games, they are bad rehashes anyway and there's 20 alternative games for each that are better.

They will do it with ma office, although you can use cracked version.

Why would you post such a shit article?

Dammit! I love notebook. Truly I didn't know it was Microsoft.
- This is Notepad
  
  Thanks for the correction. I meant Notepad. Probably autocorrect and failure to proofread. Blast! I hate it when I do that. Makes it harder take it out on others for doing it. LOL