Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Even Microsoft Notepad is getting AI text editing now

theverge.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 464 posts

Re: Even Microsoft Notepad is getting AI text editing now

#191

Post by JohnFen »

pxoe wrote: post #82
sebtron wrote: post #21

A while ago I wrote about my experience using Windows for work after 10 years of being a Linux-only user [1]. One of the positive notes I had was: > As a positive note, the default text editor Notepad is nice and lightweight, a good piece of software. Unfortunately, they screwed it up with Windows 11. And apparently they are doubling down on this. [1] https://sebastiano.tronto.net/blog/2023-01-28-windows-deskto...

on windows 11 it's still lightweight and snappy though, with tabs, autosave, dark theme and design that fits in and doesn't stick out like a sore thumb

I disagree. I mean, it could be worse, but notepad has become feature-laden enough that it almost eliminates the usefulness of the program. I may as well use a full text editor.

Re: Even Microsoft Notepad is getting AI text editing now

#192

Post by tartoran »

caseymarquis wrote: post #182
glouwbug wrote: post #128

I like how currently on LinkedIn there’s a feature to use AI writing assistance to help land your next job. Like if I can’t write how am I ever going to work a job

I recently used ChatGPT canvas to improve a friend's resume. I had managed him in the past, and he is great to work with. However, from his resume you would never know it. I did 3 hours worth of editing and improvement in 5 minutes. I gave rambling descriptions of what he had done when working for me and why it was impressive, and GPT translated this into resume speak almost instantly. I then gave some vague suggesti…

Seriously, a use case where LLMs really shine: bullshit padding. It's quite amazing to be able to turn ramble into coherent text. The less obvious tax is that if you don't put effort you will never be able to learn how to write and that will most likely affect thinking too. Writing will remain a valuable tool for improving thinking though, but likely for a lot fewer people.

Re: Even Microsoft Notepad is getting AI text editing now

#193

Post by JohnFen »

_1tem wrote: post #69

Why do writing tools have to be a feature of every app instead of an operating-system wide tool like Apple Intelligence? Makes no sense whatsoever to just "sprinkle AI everywhere" except for specialized use cases.

I'm very glad that there isn't an OS-wide thing like "Apple Intelligence", personally.

Re: Even Microsoft Notepad is getting AI text editing now

#194

Post by jamincan »

alsetmusic wrote: post #73

So, they went from not updating in forever, to finally updating it in some meaningful ways a couple years ago, to adding crap that no one wants pretty much right away. Too much, MS. Shoulda quit while you were ahead with tabs.

We've run into an issue with the new versions of notepad saving your edits to a temp file in the background so that you can continue where you left off without losing changes if you close notepad before saving.

The problem is that this can make it ambiguous whether edits have been saved to the file or not and even someone reopening the file to verify that they remembered to save the information will be fooled into thinking its there.

Re: Even Microsoft Notepad is getting AI text editing now

#195

Post by JohnFen »

elpocko wrote: post #65
poulpy123 wrote: post #28

When you have a (very very expensive) hammer, everything looks like a nail

It's basically autocomplete, spellcheck and refactoring, just based on a new technical approach. Those are not new or unusual features for a text editor.

But they don't belong in Notepad, they belong in more heavyweight editors. Notepad's value is in the lack of features.

Re: Even Microsoft Notepad is getting AI text editing now

#196

Post by seanw444 »

bityard wrote: post #143
jonwinstanley wrote: post #120

Soon there won't be any safe place on Windows to copy and paste some random text/password/key that I don't want to get uploaded to some cloud service, or screenshotted and "analysed".

Since Windows is closed source, you have no way of knowing that this isn't happening today.

As I always say, never use Windows without a condom (VM), and only sparingly.

Re: Even Microsoft Notepad is getting AI text editing now

#197

Post by arresin »

> It’s worth noting that you’ll have to sign in to your Microsoft account to use Rewrite, as it’s “powered by a cloud-based service that requires authentication and authorization.”

They are truly data leeches trying to lap at any cut you might have for a bit of tasty data.

Re: Even Microsoft Notepad is getting AI text editing now

#198

Post by JohnFen »

coldpie wrote: post #93
pton_xd wrote: post #71

"Sign in to your Microsoft account" to use... Notepad? This is not the future I wanted.

It's been pretty fascinating to watch what Microsofties have to put up with, having switched to Linux in 2007. Vista's half-assed release, Windows 8's tablet UI disaster, Windows 10's online account requirements, now all the AI crap they're shoving into Windows 11. Meanwhile I'm just over here using basically the same Arch Linux tools & XFCE environment for almost 20 years. Yes, I know, Linux isn't perfect, but it's…

I stopped using Windows and switched to Linux exclusively decades ago. But I don't get to choose what OS I use at work, so what Windows does still deeply affects me.

"Just switch" is great for home machines, but for most, that's not an option at work.

Post reply on HN