Microsoft has made a decision that marks the end of an era for many of us. Indeed, it will remove a free tool that existed since 1995.
Most of you are probably familiar with WordPad, this free word processing tool developed by Microsoft in 1995. Its operation, basic and easy to learn, allowed you to write a text, take notes or other. We could then put it all in shape thanks to its many features. But today is a bygone era, since the firm will put an end to this software.
Microsoft says goodbye to WordPad and hello to Word
Yes, it is indeed the end of an era. As Microsoft explains, WordPad will disappear when a future version of Windows is released. It will therefore be either during the future Windows 11 update, or when Windows 12 arrives. The office tool will thus join the recently deleted virtual assistant Cortana in the grave. But then, why did you make this decision? Obviously, the American giant seems to want to encourage people to turn their eyes to Word, its paid software.
We recommend Microsoft Word for rich text documents like .doc and .rtf and Windows Notepad for plain text documents like .txt.
It must be said that there was no longer any great interest in using WordPad, the worthy successor to Microsoft Write. Not only was its functionality limited, precisely to push the purchase of Word, but there are now better options available to us. We think in particular of OneNote, Notepad or OpenOffice Writer. All that remains is to say goodbye to it, because it still marks the end of a long period of existence. As a reminder, Paint had almost suffered a similar fate, but it was without counting on the anger of the users of the drawing software. In 2019, Microsoft then reversed its decision. A great story, but one that probably won’t apply here.