Notepad++ and Don Ho: A story of software, activism, and defiance

Notepad++ is still the second thing I install after ~~Chrome~~ ~~Firefox~~ whatever the fuck i'm gonna use now
- LibreWolf ( https://librewolf.net/ )

Just a note on the efficacy of activist messages in FOSS.
In the Aughts, I was learning to play with microcontrollers. PIC microcontrollers were free as well as the JAL language. I ordered a hardware programmer from the Dutch guy who created JAL: Wouter van Ooijen. Probably my first purchase online. There was a statement in the license, to the effect of, the language could not be used to develop arms.
Looking back, that was a turning point for me. I was machining arms for a living and continued to do so for years. It got me to thinking about what it was that I was producing with my hands. Weapons for killing people.
I thought about it a lot. All these things I was making with blood and sweat being used to kill people. Running machines on night shift gives you time to think.
His statement was, at minimum, at least partially responsible for me changing my mind. I grew past the bad religion and far right ideology that I was taught.
I'm going to send him a thank you note.
- Not an easy thing to change about oneself. Good job and thanks for sharing 👏
- I'm just an internet stranger, but I'm proud of your growth. Many people in similar positions would've spent those years digging themselves deeper, because confronting the cognitive dissonance is not easy (you may well have spent some of that time digging deeper, but you made it out, and I'm glad you're here with us)
  
  I dug into 'Creation Science' for a while as a result of the cognitive dissonance. Trying to square reason and science with religion and belief in an inerrant Bible. Ultimately, I lost my religion and had an existential crisis that lasted about a year.
  It was terrible. Panic attacks and circular thinking. An existential crisis is depression's cousin. Painful, frightening, and eventually exciting. I'm free now. I got rid of the slavery that was pushed into me as a child. Still have to fight the guilt and bad thought patterns.
  I was not successful in bringing any friends or family with me from before. I tried. I have regrets, but would do it again.

It's by far my favorite text editor on Windows. The first time I used it (I think to edit cfg files for Skyrim mods, lol), I was hooked. It's great to know it's creator is so principled.

Having switched to linux, np++ is one of the programs I miss the most.
Inb4 'just use [insert software here] instead'; yes I know alternatives to np++ exist. And I know wine exists. I don't miss np++ enough to go that route
- Yep same here. I've tried Notepad Next, Notepadqq, and notepad++ with wine. Each had their own quirks/issues (no dark mode, crashes, GUI glicthes). Now I'm just using vscodium for everything. While vscodium isn't as simple as np++, (there are a lot of extra features you'll never need when editing a simple txt) it gets the job done without any issues
- Just for the benefit of other readers, Notepadqq is one of the alternatives for Linux. However, there are a few features I really wanted from Notepad++, so I have installed it using wine. No problems there. Hopefully some day we'll see a Linux release.
  
  Last time I checked out Notepadqq, it was nothing like Notepad++, if what you want from Notepad++ are the features. Maybe it's improved though. Personally I've found that with the right combination of settings and add-ons, the closest editors on Linux to Notepad++ are Geany (GTK) or Kate (KDE).
- I'm in the same boat. I ended up giving up on the Linux options and using a Notepad++ snap package, but as it runs in WINE it has some quirks that I have not figured out yet.
  As an example I chose to hide the menu bar while I was trying to get a dark theme looking correct, and now I have no idea how to bring the menu bar back, because wine takes the [alt] input that would usually bring the menu back up.
  I'll probably end up just deleting and reinstalling the snap. But I'd rather know how to bring up the alt menu in emulated programs in wine - in case it happens again.
  
  Used to be alt+space. But I haven't used wine in a while...

Wow, never thought I could like notepad++ even more...

XDA is asking for disabling my adblocker? WTF? I guess i won't be reading the article.
- Firefox + ublock Origin on my phone. No issues.
- What browser and adblocker?
  
  Vivaldi, no adblocker, it seems it has one integrated… maybe?

That headline is pretty confusing if you only know Don Ho as a Hawaiian singer.
- I just assumed Notepad++ made the writer happyyyyyyy, made them feel fiiiiine
- It wasnt even made explicitly clear until they started quoting Notepad++ Don Ho after 2007, when the real Don Ho passed away.
  People can have hobbies that become their full time job, right?

Don Ho is a stand up guy! Notepad++ is also a great piece of software.

Interesting piece. Thanks for sharing 🙏

This is awesome, as is the number of people over in the XDA comments all finding a way to get angry at software they’ve never used.

I didn't know some of that. I've even more respect for Don and what he's doing!

Hopely he doesn't put the political messaging into the software.
- He did. A notable update for Notepad++ compulsory had a support message for Charlie Hebdo. Its his right to do so, and he's not wrong.
- Everything you do or don't do is a political statement. Do you think you can somehow exist in a bubble where politics is something that happens to someone else? How naive.
- Here to cheerfully crush your hopes and say he does!
- Did you read the article? If you have a problem with the political messages he is adding to the releases, you've probably been brainwashed by a government or a political party. He's not saying anything controversial, mostly just "Hey y'all, genocide bad."