This was my observation as well. I haven't used Notepad in so long, I had to open it for comparison. Yes, they've doubled the amount of wasted space, changing one menu item from text to a gear icon.
It's also possible that this is a joke. Nobody that reads dev blogs uses Notepad as part of their mission critical process.
Assuming you're a Windows or WINE user that uses notepad somewhat regularly, I challenge you to use the new notepad for a month and then try switching back. I'm very curious whether you'll miss more features or be more happy about those five pixels.
I do agree, it's completely unnecessary, but I'm still surprised the "bullshit" is limited to those few pixels of menu bar and some actual problems were fixed instead. (This feeling and this thread really go to show what people expect from the brand.)
It's not there. Where's the save button? Oh, there has been another automatic update. You wonder what you have to do this time. You press Ctrl+S.
The screen locks.
"Microsoft Account is signed out"
Sigh. You enter your password.
"Please verify it's you by saying 'Microsoft Edge is Great!'"
Sigh. "Microsoft Edge is Great!"
A Sarcasm Error Has Occurred. Please Say It With Conviction!
"MiCrOSoFt EdGe iS gReAt!"
An acceptable performance! Please rate Notepad in the Microsoft Store to continue!
"1 star"
Why do you hate excellent products? Don't you want a fresh and modern editor? Hypothesis: Did you mean 5 stars? Please don't press the second yes option if you don't not mean this isn't your choice: No, Yes, No, Yes, No, Yes.
Uuh... Third Yes.
Great! Your rating has been corrected to 5 stars! Please verify it's you by saying 'Microsoft Edge is The Greatest And I will Name My Children Microsoft And Edge!'
"MiCrOSoFt EdGe iS gReAtEst And I Will NaMe my ChIlDrEn MiCroSofT AnD EdgE!"
Processing accounts and personal information. Security Alert! Inferior non-microsoft software detected on computer! Do you wish to replace them all with modern microsoft products? [ Yes ] [ Options ]
Options
* [x] Don't Replace The Other Software
* [_] Reverse The Above Option
* [x] Really Keep Other Software
* [x] I'm a cheating bastard
* [x] I'm aware Hitler didn't use Microsoft Edge either
The Windows 10 version of Notepad already has a Search with Bing feature in the edit menu with keyboard shortcut Control-E. However, it does respect the default browser choice.
I understand it's reasonable to be cynical about Windows, but is it really appropriate here[1] when the changes of note are support for dark mode and multiple undo steps? At least wait for someone to find an actual problem.
[1] When I post this, the only other comments are complaints. The ones that are at least complaining about notepad are complaining that MS had the gall to change notepad without pointing to anything specific.
I like the feature additions but dislike that there's no visual division between the menu bar and the title bar you can click and drag to manipulate the window. Windows 10 and 11 often make me feel as if I have some disorder of the nervous system as I'm forever clicking just to the side of the interface element I want to use.
One of the things I've been rolling around in my mind for a while now is what would a "what's old is new again" reversion to the non-flat/minimalist style look like if done now.
One of the things that strikes me with 4k displays is that there's a lot more pixels to throw around at elaborate designs, along with the skeuomorphic/physical representation of interactivity. I'm thinking back to the winxp era uxstyles skins that while they demonstrated Sturgeon's law, also had a wide range of art and ways to make it approachable for people.
In the case of windows, changing UI approach again would add another layer of strata with inconsistency, but right now MS's approach comes across as resume led design with a new version of windows to launch with their stamp on it
I had a similar thought when I saw Mercedes new infotainment UI [0] -- the dark blue with heavy use of gradients is very reminiscent of vista-era design to my eyes.
I know there's a lot of different people with different priorities, but people (as a generalization) are complaining about things still being outdated and not supporting dark mode in Windows 11 while simultaneously (although probably a different set of people) are apparently appalled that Microsoft would dare update a legacy application.
Personally I think the best thing Windows 11 has going for it to stand out from more than just being a nicer coat of paint on Windows 10 is removing as much legacy things as possible and update to "modern" standards given they've already put a hard line in the sand regarding modern CPU compatibility.
I think we're all a little nervous after various Edge and Windows updates have either introduced adverts to the UI or even buy-now-pay-later predatory lending. These updates look promising, but MS really should pay attention to the sentiment they're creating around "feature updates" recently.
Notepad had a dark mode (and light mode, and grey mode, and "eye-searing yellow with purple font" mode, if you want) as recently as Windows 7 with the system-wide theme settings, so it's understandable to be sceptical when they bring the dark mode as some sort of a triumph when it's a regression.
also for some reason, people really like to complain about HN as though it's a monolith even though a tiny percentage ever comment, let alone complain.
As previously noted, 80% of the comments were negative when I posted it. I was reacting to the 'I hate change brigade' that got in early.
I mean, I don't even use Windows or any Microsoft devices. MacOS is vastly superior to Windows and Bill Gates sexually harassed women in the 90s (not that it factored into my operating system choice).
I just hope the new version is fast and not like Paint 3D which sometimes spends multiple seconds "creating a new project" when opening a simple PNG on a 5950X.
I was a little surprised to learn that my four-year-old processor (i7-7700) was locked out of running windows 11. It's certainly not processor speed issue, it's still plenty fast for games today. It's not TPM either, which it supports. The best I can tell, Microsoft drew a line and said "too bad," for everything before a certain generation.
I really only play games on my computer--I have no idea when I'll upgrade the CPU. The last one lasted nearly a decade before I replaced it. I guess it'll be a while before I see Windows 11. I'm not too mad though--Windows 10 is a fine Operating System.
You can still install windows 11 straight from an image and it’ll ignore the processor and TPM requirements - they’re considered ‘soft’ requirements even if Microsoft doesn’t say so outright. I currently have it running on my desktop with an i7-6700k and my laptop as well with an even older i7 and TPM 1.2.
You’re absolutely correct in that they ‘drew a line’. They have a specific set of guidelines[0,1] they want CPUs to meet going forward, and it’s more of a matter of ceremony and certification rather than anything concrete nor technical.
You also can install it by putting the win11 payload onto a win10 install USB stick. Just don't let it have access to the net while it installs or it'll "download install updates" that stop it from continuing. This is how I installed it on my machine that doesn't support TPM.
"Productivity, performance, and reliability are paramount in Notepad. Regardless of how you incorporate Notepad into your workflows, we will ensure that Notepad continues to excel in those areas."
I don't know why you are being downvoted. I used to use Notepad years ago as it's practically guaranteed to exist on every Windows machine. I can't say much about productivity, but performance was abysmal for larger files. As for reliability, the main reason I never use Notepad now, even for most trivial things, is that Notepad++ will always bring my session back, with all open tabs, regardless of whether I saved the file or not. It doesn't matter if my battery died or Windows decided it's now time to restart the system after updating - Notepad++ will keep my work safe and Notepad will not. So speaking about reliability is probably a bigger joke than productivity.
They could say "We always wanted to keep the tool light, fast to start and reasonably efficient for small files, and we have managed to do that" - and this would be OK. There is no need to serve bullshit to a technical community.
I'm sure the editor is fine for a basic editor that comes with the desktop environment, it looks functional enough, but the language in that article is just weird to me. It reads like some kind of prank.
It's a "you probably never worked in a corporation" type of thing. Someone is trained to write things like this, and it's impossible for that person to do it differently, plus no one is in a position/capacity/incentive to affect that.
I was expecting a ribbon or other fluff (like write.exe / WordPad), perhaps even ads (two days ago I saw at a friend's that a Windows built-in game now has ads). Honestly I'm very impressed they kept the simple look. It's just a larger-than-necessary menu bar and some unobtrusive theming and that's it. The toggleable dark mode is also a welcome change for me.
I do assume we can open files larger than a few megabytes now and there were some more functionality issues that seemed very 90s, could it be that there was only one undo step or did they already fix that in a previous release? I truly haven't used Windows in, dare I say, too long.
Edit: yes I did remember the undo problem correctly and that's finally fixed: "adding support for multi-level undo".
If they replace the current high performance codebase inherited from the previous system with a much slower UI people will complain. Not to mention changes in bugs and behavior.
It's crazy to me that Windows 11 has already been released and yet they're still adding what should be core functionality to the OS as an after thought.
If they are so set on redesigning Notepad and/or all system apps to use the new design style, why would those not be prioritized and included in the original release from day 1?
I'm not sure a slight refresh of the Notepad UI is core functionality of the OS. I don't like Windows, I actually quite despise it, but I think the rolling release approach is far better than, say, macOS' yearly dump. You end up with features that are half-baked or pushed to the next year. Microsoft is taking a saner approach with Windows releases, IMHO.
I thought Microsoft had announced they are switching to an annual release cycle.
I don't think it makes much difference to the quality, some features are too big to fit in a single cycle anyway. The question is whether they have enough discipline to hold back projects that aren't ready. In this respect neither Apple nor Microsoft seem able to say no.
For Windows I would say it is. Windows doesn't come with vi, nano, or any other terminal text editor, and some kind of text editor is needed for pretty much anything you would do with a computer.
I doubt this is the paradigm that Microsoft would like to promote. Interestingly, my limited interactions will Windows 10 I haven't had the chance or need to use a text editor.
I have never seen non techie users open notepad or edit config files. In fact I've heard people say that Notepad sucks and that MS Word is better, meaning they are so non techie they can't imagine a use case for notepad.
There is also write.exe or, just a suggestion, buy MS Office Word in a package deal for like ninety nine bucks. I can see why notepad might be deemed unimportant by Microsoft with both a commercial alternative to push and a more powerful editor also built in. (Assuming write.exe is still in W11, last I used was 7 I think.)
Those applications are absolutely not suitable for text editing because they have a tendency to mangle the text encoding and other CR/LF characters.
(I generally don't think it's too odd for an OS to ship with a text editor of some kind. I don't use notepad much but there are a few times that it's been a life saver.)
You edit config files in Windows? Registry is all the rage there, unless you use tools made to be cross-platform (which, for devs, is obviously a lot, but I can see an argument that notepad isn't that important to the OS).
Of course, it would be nice if every program ever were nearly perfect upon release, but that isn't necessarily a realistic expectation in every scenario. If it can be updated via the Store (which is the case with Notepad and many other utilities), it doesn't have to be tied to the OS release cadence. In this aspect, modern Windows is more like rolling-release desktop Linux distros than macOS.
Operating system for majority of users are feature complete for years and for most common tasks it would make no difference if work would be done on Windows, macOS or some Linux distribution. Perhaps the preexisting familiarity with a particular OS would be the only factor determining how comfortably user get the job done. But it can be done anywhere.
Emoji or gif support in desktop OS, sidebars or notification centers, all sorts of content or tasks suggestions, virtual assistants that are limited to only few languages, countless GUI changes or application redesigns that makes no sense or make the workflow worse. All of this is often presented as some breakthrough "experiences" that are about to fundamentally change user life - forever. And for quite some time I'm having a feeling that all of this is being done only to provide an illusion that someone does something, so the all decision-making people, CEOs would be satisfied that a product was improved. Maybe there are people who are impressed with such things or expect that these should be here but I'm definitely not.
Are you suggesting that a desktop OS shouldn’t support an input method for standardized Unicode characters? That would be incredibly annoying. Especially if you’re a developer working on programs that are supposed to handle said characters.
> Operating system for majority of users are feature complete for years
(Good) UI scaling support? Dynamic refresh-rate support? eGPU support? Thunderbolt? Support for modern biometric authenticators like Windows Hello? Support for booting off a portable volume? Handwriting recognition in arbitrary apps? Basically 80% of accessibility features being finally pushed down into older software (with “dark mode” as a side effect)?
Yes, none of these things are from Windows 11, but none of them are more than 10 years old, either. People forget how many extremely recent OS features have immediately become table stakes to be taken completely for granted. (And this process is continuous. I’m sure there’s some accessibility feature being added to computers only today, that will enable people who never were able to use computers before to do so.)
Try using a modern Bluetooth gamepad with Windows XP / OSX10.6 / Linux 2.6 / other “perfect” OS versions some time. Even if you can get it to connect, it won’t even recognize all the buttons, because old APIs had hard limits on assumed number of buttons!
The key term is “inbox apps.” Notepad is now one of them. An inbox app is a Microsoft Store app that happens to be pre-installed (it ships “in-box.”)
As such, Notepad, like other inbox apps, is now decoupled from the release cycle of Windows. It’s just some arbitrary app, that happens to be made by Microsoft, and happens to come with Windows.
This is nice. I run dark mode everywhere and I used to use notepad for quick notes and stuff. Problem is that notepad is a giant wide window so it would burn my eyes out when opened, so I had to switch to something else. Now I can use it for that purpose again...
Providing I move to Win11 that is. Still not a fan of the task bar lacking features I use a lot.
Yeah, the changes seem ok otherwise, but based on every other application Microsoft has updated with a new look & feel I'd have to agree: it'll take longer to launch, use more resources, and have worse input response times.
Since you guessed it instead of somehow measured it (i think you'd need a very high framerate camera to measure the time between click and app appearing to do that) perhaps it isn't that it is fast but you're just not sensitive to such small delays?
Possibly. Maybe I remember the 'good old days' too fondly: where opening any kind of application would take upwards of 5 seconds and often into the minutes for something large like Word :)
For me anything that loads before I even have the time to think about the fact that it's loading would not be considered 'slow'.
It opens much faster the second time of the day, but the first time is always over a few seconds. I'm probably including the slow feeling the Start menu obtained a few versions ago, I don't use it enough to pin it to the taskbar.
The rating thing was real at some point, they might have removed it by now.
My point is, important things are getting noticeably slower for almost zero gain, even though the machines have gotten WAY faster. Something is not right.
A friend complained about making mistakes on their mobile calculator nowadays because it has significant input lag since an update. Needs a third party calculator app now... I was happy that I could recommend Simple Mobile Tools' calculator, open source donationware and does only what it should. I only know of it because my phone didn't come with a calculator at all, which I found weird too. I use a bunch of their apps actually and they're all great, so this was an easy choice. Not sure what the equivalent for Windows would be, I never saw anyone use an alternative calculator -- unless Google counts but that's not because of problems with calc.exe.
For anyone who hasn't seen these, I recommend them as well. The default calculator works fine for me, but "Simple File Manager" and "Simple Gallery Pro" are fantastic apps that strip out the typical cruft of these tools, and unlike some alternatives (looking at you, Amaze), have no tracking scripts or nag screens.
They should just open source the consumer level userland apps and outsource the dev work to third party contributors. It would save quite a bit of money.
Notepad has been an annoyance for decades. Before I clicked the link I thought there might be enhanced features and reworked usability. Unfortunately the new features fall short. The one they seem proudest of is a dark mode.
Microsoft has not added any functionality to their operating system or applications since 1998–only bloat to keep up with the need to create a need for faster processors. I can’t think of one thing I can do in the Microsoft Office suite I couldn’t do 20 years ago. It’s just slower.
There is a chance that your use case is basic and hasn’t changed in 20 years, but I think there is a higher chance of it’s a case of general hatred for Microsoft.
> only bloat to keep up with the need to create a need for faster processors.
Do people not see what their feelings towards Microsoft turns them into?
Why hate?
I don't hate, Microsoft or Office, or anything like that. Those are choices, things. You can't hate things.
I agree with this OP that office had all the functionality almost everyone needed twenty years ago. Most of the changes to office have been cosmetic and frustrating to established users. Perhaps their could have been add ons - like in browsers, for more functionality that certain users need, without
messing with established work flows and ease of use, which are also important.
I don’t use Word at all, there are many other pieces of software in the Office suite, many which simply did not exist 20 years ago. If you think nothing has changed then it is very likely you don’t need Office.
> Microsoft has not added any functionality to their operating system or applications since 1998
This is simply absolute nonsense. Are you really contending that no real functionality has been added to Windows since Windows NT? I know HN loves to hate Microsoft but are we really upvoting this crap?
The greatest thing about Notepad is that it runs and displays a blinking cursor ready for typing in much less than a second for a new document. On my Windows 11 machine it appears to be around 200 msec. I've tried setting my text file handler to other text editors but nothing else comes close to this speed of utility. I'm very glad they are not messing with that.
Overall, I'm very pleased with my Windows 11. Everything is just slightly, but enough, better to make it a good upgrade. That said, I read somewhere that Microsoft intends it to be mostly for new computers. It's not a big loss for a Windows 10 user to stay on 10. It's more of a nicety to upgrade. It's better looking but functionally not much different afaik
Have you tried Notepad++? I just tested it on my system after reading your comment and the difference between Notepad++ and Notepad was barely perceptible (the former being slower by ~0.1 seconds, at a guess). It also has a lot of quality of life features that notepad is missing - my favorite is that it auto-saves a cached copy of unsaved documents during shutdown and presents them to you on next open for saving (this doesn't seem to slow start up by any noticeable amount, for the small files I just tested).
Yes, Notepad++ is really great. In my case, I would tend to have a bunch of text files in tabs that slowed loading, so associating 'txt' with it meant I'd have to wait to jot a note down. I could have fixed this by closing all tabs before putting it away, but I'm happier using VS Code for my larger text file needs and good old notepad.exe for quick notes.
FYI notepad++ has a setting to open a separate instance for each file. It drives me crazy when I install on a new machine and it defaults to the behavior you’ve described.
I use it all the time as a temporary scratchpad or clipboard. It opens very quickly, it doesn’t have anything else other than a text area. Not sure what else should I use :) VSC? Opens too slow. Sticky notes? Not sure, slow and too complex for the task. Also it’s an advantage that it doesn’t save the state anywhere so I can just force quit and everything disappears.
I am missing Paint and Notepad on MacOS when I just need something that opens in a millisecond and I can paste in something temporarily.
Most devs I've met use it, it's an excellent tool for getting rid of formatting or just having an instant window open where you can temporarily store some plaintext.
My mind isn't blown, this doesn't seem to work properly across all applications.
I just tested it now pasting some text from a website into Slack and it retained hyperlinks (I don't mean plaintext https:// ones, but <a href='..> ones) and all that junk. When you cleanse it through notepad you have a guarantee that none of that is left.
Nothing fishy about it, its proper Quality Assurance using the initial release of Windows 11 as an MVP.
If they’d build preview versions of all tools that Windows (11) contains, then release a new Windows 11 preview build any time a tool receives updates (after community feedback) and ask for more community feedback on all of these releases (probably talking a new Windows 11 version every single day) and release Windows only when all the tools and their changes have been deemed worthy/bug-free it will be 2029.
313 comments
[ 4.7 ms ] story [ 279 ms ] threadAka “design language”
Aka “bullshit”
It's also possible that this is a joke. Nobody that reads dev blogs uses Notepad as part of their mission critical process.
I do agree, it's completely unnecessary, but I'm still surprised the "bullshit" is limited to those few pixels of menu bar and some actual problems were fixed instead. (This feeling and this thread really go to show what people expect from the brand.)
My key problem is this is epic bike shedding.
It deserves critical attitudes directed at it.
You're done writing a text file and go to save.
It's not there. Where's the save button? Oh, there has been another automatic update. You wonder what you have to do this time. You press Ctrl+S.
The screen locks.
"Microsoft Account is signed out"
Sigh. You enter your password.
"Please verify it's you by saying 'Microsoft Edge is Great!'"
Sigh. "Microsoft Edge is Great!"
A Sarcasm Error Has Occurred. Please Say It With Conviction!
"MiCrOSoFt EdGe iS gReAt!"
An acceptable performance! Please rate Notepad in the Microsoft Store to continue!
"1 star"
Why do you hate excellent products? Don't you want a fresh and modern editor? Hypothesis: Did you mean 5 stars? Please don't press the second yes option if you don't not mean this isn't your choice: No, Yes, No, Yes, No, Yes.
Uuh... Third Yes.
Great! Your rating has been corrected to 5 stars! Please verify it's you by saying 'Microsoft Edge is The Greatest And I will Name My Children Microsoft And Edge!'
"MiCrOSoFt EdGe iS gReAtEst And I Will NaMe my ChIlDrEn MiCroSofT AnD EdgE!"
Processing accounts and personal information. Security Alert! Inferior non-microsoft software detected on computer! Do you wish to replace them all with modern microsoft products? [ Yes ] [ Options ]
Options
* [x] Don't Replace The Other Software
* [_] Reverse The Above Option
* [x] Really Keep Other Software
* [x] I'm a cheating bastard
* [x] I'm aware Hitler didn't use Microsoft Edge either
* Security Options *
* [x] Remove browsers not developed by Microsoft
This thing is responsible for a lot of helpdesk tickets.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29478878
[1] When I post this, the only other comments are complaints. The ones that are at least complaining about notepad are complaining that MS had the gall to change notepad without pointing to anything specific.
One of the things that strikes me with 4k displays is that there's a lot more pixels to throw around at elaborate designs, along with the skeuomorphic/physical representation of interactivity. I'm thinking back to the winxp era uxstyles skins that while they demonstrated Sturgeon's law, also had a wide range of art and ways to make it approachable for people.
In the case of windows, changing UI approach again would add another layer of strata with inconsistency, but right now MS's approach comes across as resume led design with a new version of windows to launch with their stamp on it
I had a similar thought when I saw Mercedes new infotainment UI [0] -- the dark blue with heavy use of gradients is very reminiscent of vista-era design to my eyes.
[0] https://mediacloud.carbuyer.co.uk/image/private/s--av_nNtkN-...
Personally I think the best thing Windows 11 has going for it to stand out from more than just being a nicer coat of paint on Windows 10 is removing as much legacy things as possible and update to "modern" standards given they've already put a hard line in the sand regarding modern CPU compatibility.
You mean, a severely bastardized version of functionality that Windows had back in version 3.0?
http://toastytech.com/guis/win30color.png
Microsoft: Okay, we've made a small visual refresh of Notepad so that it's more visually consistent with Windows 11
Hacker News: Stop breaking my childhood!
It's as much of a meme to see the top post on an HN story is "OMG why are all the top posts such toxic whiners" and scroll down to not see any.
Preemptively calling complainers complainers helps quell complaints from fence sitters. It's PR.
Nope, must be paid shills.
I mean, I don't even use Windows or any Microsoft devices. MacOS is vastly superior to Windows and Bill Gates sexually harassed women in the 90s (not that it factored into my operating system choice).
Real PR machine over here.
I really only play games on my computer--I have no idea when I'll upgrade the CPU. The last one lasted nearly a decade before I replaced it. I guess it'll be a while before I see Windows 11. I'm not too mad though--Windows 10 is a fine Operating System.
You’re absolutely correct in that they ‘drew a line’. They have a specific set of guidelines[0,1] they want CPUs to meet going forward, and it’s more of a matter of ceremony and certification rather than anything concrete nor technical.
0. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/com...
1. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/de...
I can see the logic in wanting to make the Windows codebase smaller/leaner/etc by wanting to get rid of the legacy stuff.
[0]: https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/97128/i...
Is this from Microsoft? Is this real?
They could say "We always wanted to keep the tool light, fast to start and reasonably efficient for small files, and we have managed to do that" - and this would be OK. There is no need to serve bullshit to a technical community.
I do assume we can open files larger than a few megabytes now and there were some more functionality issues that seemed very 90s, could it be that there was only one undo step or did they already fix that in a previous release? I truly haven't used Windows in, dare I say, too long.
Edit: yes I did remember the undo problem correctly and that's finally fixed: "adding support for multi-level undo".
not 1987
If they are so set on redesigning Notepad and/or all system apps to use the new design style, why would those not be prioritized and included in the original release from day 1?
I don't think it makes much difference to the quality, some features are too big to fit in a single cycle anyway. The question is whether they have enough discipline to hold back projects that aren't ready. In this respect neither Apple nor Microsoft seem able to say no.
(I generally don't think it's too odd for an OS to ship with a text editor of some kind. I don't use notepad much but there are a few times that it's been a life saver.)
When fix or feature is ready, it's moment to distribute it.
It's way better than Apple style feature hoarding to pad yearly OS release changelog with application fluff.
Emoji or gif support in desktop OS, sidebars or notification centers, all sorts of content or tasks suggestions, virtual assistants that are limited to only few languages, countless GUI changes or application redesigns that makes no sense or make the workflow worse. All of this is often presented as some breakthrough "experiences" that are about to fundamentally change user life - forever. And for quite some time I'm having a feeling that all of this is being done only to provide an illusion that someone does something, so the all decision-making people, CEOs would be satisfied that a product was improved. Maybe there are people who are impressed with such things or expect that these should be here but I'm definitely not.
Are you suggesting that a desktop OS shouldn’t support an input method for standardized Unicode characters? That would be incredibly annoying. Especially if you’re a developer working on programs that are supposed to handle said characters.
> Operating system for majority of users are feature complete for years
(Good) UI scaling support? Dynamic refresh-rate support? eGPU support? Thunderbolt? Support for modern biometric authenticators like Windows Hello? Support for booting off a portable volume? Handwriting recognition in arbitrary apps? Basically 80% of accessibility features being finally pushed down into older software (with “dark mode” as a side effect)?
Yes, none of these things are from Windows 11, but none of them are more than 10 years old, either. People forget how many extremely recent OS features have immediately become table stakes to be taken completely for granted. (And this process is continuous. I’m sure there’s some accessibility feature being added to computers only today, that will enable people who never were able to use computers before to do so.)
Try using a modern Bluetooth gamepad with Windows XP / OSX10.6 / Linux 2.6 / other “perfect” OS versions some time. Even if you can get it to connect, it won’t even recognize all the buttons, because old APIs had hard limits on assumed number of buttons!
As such, Notepad, like other inbox apps, is now decoupled from the release cycle of Windows. It’s just some arbitrary app, that happens to be made by Microsoft, and happens to come with Windows.
How slow is it on your machine?? I've also not had it ask me to rate it on the store. I don't think it even exists on the store.
For me anything that loads before I even have the time to think about the fact that it's loading would not be considered 'slow'.
The rating thing was real at some point, they might have removed it by now.
My point is, important things are getting noticeably slower for almost zero gain, even though the machines have gotten WAY faster. Something is not right.
For anyone who hasn't seen these, I recommend them as well. The default calculator works fine for me, but "Simple File Manager" and "Simple Gallery Pro" are fantastic apps that strip out the typical cruft of these tools, and unlike some alternatives (looking at you, Amaze), have no tracking scripts or nag screens.
https://simplemobiletools.com/
> only bloat to keep up with the need to create a need for faster processors.
Do people not see what their feelings towards Microsoft turns them into?
What have the Romans given us?
This is simply absolute nonsense. Are you really contending that no real functionality has been added to Windows since Windows NT? I know HN loves to hate Microsoft but are we really upvoting this crap?
Overall, I'm very pleased with my Windows 11. Everything is just slightly, but enough, better to make it a good upgrade. That said, I read somewhere that Microsoft intends it to be mostly for new computers. It's not a big loss for a Windows 10 user to stay on 10. It's more of a nicety to upgrade. It's better looking but functionally not much different afaik
Launching with rich text as the default is a bit slower. But hey, rich text.
And TextEdit is less than half that size if you strip out the translation dicts!
On my intel 16”, Sublime Text 4 is amazingly fast, even with a dozen medium-to-large rails apps open.
Not for me.
Opening textedit on macbook 13, with plaintext mode takes noticeable time to animate the window before I can start typing.
Opening notepad.exe on Win11 is instant. The window is on-screen and ready to take input, before my finger has lifted off the enter key.
Not to mention the silly bugs and lack of attention to detail.
Open a new file. Don't type anything, it will prompt you to save the file on close. Why?
They are pushing developers to it as well. See new WSL features as an example.
Perhaps the single funniest line ever penned by Microsoft.
Cannot imagine any “Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel” who use, let alone rely on, Notepad for any serious work.
EDIT: I stand corrected - mea culpa!
I am missing Paint and Notepad on MacOS when I just need something that opens in a millisecond and I can paste in something temporarily.
* search in all opened docs * find/replace with regex * tabs to space * line operations etc
Very useful, and for my workflows on Windows, indispensible (even alongside wsl or powershell)
I still love it as a tool though.
I just tested it now pasting some text from a website into Slack and it retained hyperlinks (I don't mean plaintext https:// ones, but <a href='..> ones) and all that junk. When you cleanse it through notepad you have a guarantee that none of that is left.
when was windows 11 released?
why do they act a small indie company working on a week-end school project?
this is so fishy..
If they’d build preview versions of all tools that Windows (11) contains, then release a new Windows 11 preview build any time a tool receives updates (after community feedback) and ask for more community feedback on all of these releases (probably talking a new Windows 11 version every single day) and release Windows only when all the tools and their changes have been deemed worthy/bug-free it will be 2029.
just like solitaire: https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fs...