Microsoft saying Goodbye to WordPad

Microsoft recently announced plans to stop updating WordPad and eventually remove it from Windows altogether. It was a quiet reveal, and it's unclear when this will happen, but it's in the works.

Let's be honest though… how many times have you accidentally opened a document in WordPad when you were aiming for Notepad?

Notepad is what you use for plain text. WordPad is more like a word processor. Everyone gets them confused.

Could this common mix-up be the reason behind WordPad's impending demise? Or perhaps Microsoft is trying to nudge more people towards paying for Microsoft Word, a key part of its Microsoft 365 suite.

But let's not get too sentimental here. As a lifelong Windows user, I can confess that I've mostly opened WordPad only by mistake. And if it does vanish, I won't be losing sleep. There are plenty of other word processors out there, and I'm quite fond of Word.

However, if you're a diehard WordPad fan, don't despair just yet. Microsoft is asking for feedback via the Windows Feedback Hub app. So, if there's an outpouring of support, who knows? Maybe Microsoft will reconsider and allow WordPad to stick around, even if it's just as an optional, rarely-updated app from the Microsoft Store.

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