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Even Microsoft Notepad is getting AI text editing now

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Re: Even Microsoft Notepad is getting AI text editing now

#231

Post by sjpb »

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...

Hah, writing that blogpost from that perspective was a really nice move, I enjoyed reading it!

Re: Even Microsoft Notepad is getting AI text editing now

#232

Post by adra »

cj wrote: post #87
disqard wrote: post #6

Is it safe to say we've crested the peak of the Gartner Hype Cycle for AI? I've seen several essays/posts describing "AI Fatigue" recently.

Here's a Google Trend graph of the last 5 years for "AI" (and "crypto" for comparison). https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&ge... At least based on search volume, we're still on an upward swing.

I'm sure there's some fascinating research to be discovered for why the most crypto of the US states are Nevada, Florida, Hawaii, and Alaska.

Re: Even Microsoft Notepad is getting AI text editing now

#233

Post by BobaFloutist »

mikae1 wrote: post #227
iknowstuff wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My main OS is macOS but I use Windows for gaming. The reliance on crusty old ass applications like those on Windows is actually kinda depressing. Everything newer is garbage for various reasons, and everything old is ugly as hell. Macs have Pixelmator and Preview for images, Apple Notes is actually very decent for actual notes, Zed for nerdy text files, QuickTime/IINA for video (or hell even VLC looks much nicer than…

> The reliance on crusty old ass applications like those on Windows is actually kinda depressing. macOS is the most consistent OS and Windows the least [1]. With the exception of IrfanView I find neither of those apps particularly crusty though. There's https://imageglass.org I personally moved from macOS to KDE Plasma and I'm a happy camper as long as I stay with Plasma/Qt apps. [1] https://ntdev.blog/2021/02/06/sta…

VLC is pretty damn crusty, especially to anyone not familiar with that particular....design ethos.

Don't get me wrong, it's an incredible endeavor and the developers deserve endless praise, but for people that aren't already familiar with navigating things like GIMP, KDE, Open/LibreOffice, it's not especially welcoming.

Re: Even Microsoft Notepad is getting AI text editing now

#234

Post by NamTaf »

llm_nerd wrote: post #226
optymizer wrote: post #74

Software companies want to shove AI everywhere because it's the shiny new thing. Hardware companies love it because they can finally have a way to fight the "it's good enough for email and browsing" argument to sell us more hardware.

They're shoving AI everywhere because it's extraordinarily powerful and truly differentiating. Being jaded and cynical about it doesn't change that reality. Obviously there will be winners and losers and it will shake out -- personally I can't imagine using notepad for more than pasting arbitrary text and it seems like the least features is the best -- but bonafide text tools without AI in 2024 are crippling.

You’re right that it is certainly differentiating for me, but not in a good way.

Re: Even Microsoft Notepad is getting AI text editing now

#235

Post by croes »

llm_nerd wrote: post #226
optymizer wrote: post #74

Software companies want to shove AI everywhere because it's the shiny new thing. Hardware companies love it because they can finally have a way to fight the "it's good enough for email and browsing" argument to sell us more hardware.

They're shoving AI everywhere because it's extraordinarily powerful and truly differentiating. Being jaded and cynical about it doesn't change that reality. Obviously there will be winners and losers and it will shake out -- personally I can't imagine using notepad for more than pasting arbitrary text and it seems like the least features is the best -- but bonafide text tools without AI in 2024 are crippling.

If AI is so powerful why don’t we see a massive productivity spike around the globe?

It may be convenient but more than once just replaced the time I needed to write my code by time fine tuning the prompt because the AI didn’t quite got what I wanted.

On top of that I must review foreign code. That’s harder than code I already know.

And on top of that the end result lacks the feeling of accomplishment in solving a problem because it wasn’t me who wrote it.

I‘m degraded to some kind customer of the AI.

Assembly line workers are said to be alienated from the product they produce, I guess the same will happen for AI users.

Re: Even Microsoft Notepad is getting AI text editing now

#236

Post by rqtwteye »

This seems to be a common trend everywhere. Instead of improving core functionality they add the latest buzzword tech, no matter it make sense or not. I am user of GaiaGPS to plan outdoors trips. Same there: the app is good but has some problems. Instead of fixing the problems they added social functionality which nobody really wants.

Re: Even Microsoft Notepad is getting AI text editing now

#237

Post by ilrwbwrkhv »

arresin wrote: post #197

> 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.

This is just so sad. It's not bad, it's to be such a great application and something which had endured the whole Microsoft enshittification. But I guess even that falls.

Re: Even Microsoft Notepad is getting AI text editing now

#238

Post by skydhash »

JohnFen wrote: post #198
coldpie wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Work is for work stuff. It's someone else computer, someone else wants and needs. I don't mind if they want to feed all their data to Big Tech (On my previous work computer the only truly personal piece of data I had was my profile picture and ssh keys for my GitHub account). I don't even do web searches on work computers. If Windows is slow, I'd just bring it up to my manager and the IT dept.

On my personal computers, that's a different story.

Re: Even Microsoft Notepad is getting AI text editing now

#239

Post by JohnFen »

skydhash wrote: post #238
JohnFen wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Work is for work stuff. It's someone else computer, someone else wants and needs. I don't mind if they want to feed all their data to Big Tech (On my previous work computer the only truly personal piece of data I had was my profile picture and ssh keys for my GitHub account). I don't even do web searches on work computers. If Windows is slow, I'd just bring it up to my manager and the IT dept. On my personal computer…

I totally agree, but I was really addressing just having to put up with the OS rather than privacy issues specifically. My employer can take whatever privacy risks they want.

Re: Even Microsoft Notepad is getting AI text editing now

#240

Post by rendaw »

stewx wrote: post #221
arresin wrote: post #197

> 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.

I presume this is for applying rate-limiting, so their API doesn't get utterly abused

And for vacuuming up personal data, because why not both.
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