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Microsoft is killing WordPad in Windows

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Re: Microsoft is killing WordPad in Windows

#341

Post by mostlylurks »

Dalewyn wrote: post #307
troupo wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's why ordinary users they pay for Windows. And iPhones. They couldn't be bothered with "you should learn to compile arbitrary programs from source for the particular version of a particulr linux distirbution with particular library versions and available software". In all fairness I, as a programmer, couldn't be bothered to do that either.

The fact this comment is getting downvoted speaks volumes to the degree of detachment a lot of the people here have from reality.

It is not detachment from reality. Those of us that are comfortable with compiling some of the programs we use from source don't by any means expect ordinary users to be capable of doing the same. It's an option that works for us and that's fine for many of us, though I personally would prefer if regular users had options as well.

It's also a straw man. Compiling from source is just one option (that is particularly relevant for the HN demographic), but many (most?) notable apps, the kinds regular users would be using anyway, seem to provide ready-to-use versions that can be downloaded from their site and run without even having to be installed. This is a very convenient workflow that even regular users would be capable of using, and is quite reminiscient of what people often do on proprietary desktop operating systems.

Re: Microsoft is killing WordPad in Windows

#342

Post by xmonkee »

el_benhameen wrote: post #187
xmonkee wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

why not use the notes app? you get in built folders and shari g options too

For me, Notes tries too hard. The auto-heading of the first line of text, all the editing and markup options, the sharing, etc. are all more than I want, and they end up being distracting and getting in the way. My mind will easily wander to “what if I make all subjects this font and this color and bold etc.”, and then I lose the context of whatever I wanted to write down. TextEdit, new .txt file, name it “{subject}…

Counterpoint: syncing across devices, sharing, embeddable media and searchability are actually all kinda table-stakes if I'm going to be using these notes for the rest of my forseeable life. I have shared notes with my wife where we have shopping lists, shared notes with my co-founder on roadmaps, have my vaccine cards and IDs in there for presenting at bars, and all my code snippets in a folder called "Snippets" that is searchable and available to me at my work and home computers. Kinda hard to replicate with a folder full of text files without even more complexity and crud.

Re: Microsoft is killing WordPad in Windows

#343

Post by cyberax »

canucker2016 wrote: post #329
cyberax wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WordPad was an official sample application for the MFC and OLE: https://web.archive.org/web/20070429125746/http://msdn2.micr...

from https://github.com/microsoft/VCSamples/tree/master/VC2010Sam... "The WordPad sample demonstrates how to implement an application that imitates the functionality of WordPad, including the user interface elements and some of the capabilities." I should have known it wasn't the real Win95 WordPad source code since this version is written using MFC and C++. C++ was not an approved programming language for Win95 comp…

The "real" WordPad is built on top of the sample, with minor changes.

Re: Microsoft is killing WordPad in Windows

#344

Post by cyberax »

canucker2016 wrote: post #329
cyberax wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WordPad was an official sample application for the MFC and OLE: https://web.archive.org/web/20070429125746/http://msdn2.micr...

from https://github.com/microsoft/VCSamples/tree/master/VC2010Sam... "The WordPad sample demonstrates how to implement an application that imitates the functionality of WordPad, including the user interface elements and some of the capabilities." I should have known it wasn't the real Win95 WordPad source code since this version is written using MFC and C++. C++ was not an approved programming language for Win95 comp…

> C++ was not an approved programming language for Win95 components in its quest to run on Brad Silverberg's (Win95 manager) mom's 4MB RAM PC.

Plenty of Windows 95 components were written in C++, including pretty much everything that dealt with OLE. WinNT also used C++ for the graphics layer.

Re: Microsoft is killing WordPad in Windows

#345

Post by throwaway2990 »

jiofj wrote: post #305
throwaway2990 wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On none of my laptops running latest windows does it take 3s… it’s instant…

You probably don't have a slow hard disk

Do laptops ship with slow hard disks now? Doesn’t everything have an nvme?

Re: Microsoft is killing WordPad in Windows

#346

Post by el_benhameen »

xmonkee wrote: post #342
el_benhameen wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, Notes tries too hard. The auto-heading of the first line of text, all the editing and markup options, the sharing, etc. are all more than I want, and they end up being distracting and getting in the way. My mind will easily wander to “what if I make all subjects this font and this color and bold etc.”, and then I lose the context of whatever I wanted to write down. TextEdit, new .txt file, name it “{subject}…

Counterpoint: syncing across devices, sharing, embeddable media and searchability are actually all kinda table-stakes if I'm going to be using these notes for the rest of my forseeable life. I have shared notes with my wife where we have shopping lists, shared notes with my co-founder on roadmaps, have my vaccine cards and IDs in there for presenting at bars, and all my code snippets in a folder called "Snippets" tha…

Oh for sure. For those use cases, more features make sense. My use case here is “swap file for disorganized thoughts”, and I don’t need them to be replicated, archived, or searchable—and the mental overhead of those features is a detriment.

A notes .txt represents my current unit of work, and moving it into the archive folder is equivalent to deleting it in that I will likely never need or use it again. Documentation goes into the repo or Notion or whatnot, grocery lists are shared with my wife, etc., and I see the value in additional features there.

Re: Microsoft is killing WordPad in Windows

#347

Post by nicbou »

el_benhameen wrote: post #327
nicbou wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you like plain text, you'd probably love it even more with a better text editor.

I’ve tried many, but the featurelessness of TextEdit is what I like about it. “Better” ends up being more distracting. I do like Sublime for actual dev tasks, though.

Sublime is my go-to for this. It can be customised to be much more comfortable to use, and projects let you have a set of files accessible with Cmd+P. I have different projects for each of my static sites. It's fantastic.

Re: Microsoft is killing WordPad in Windows

#348

Post by canucker2016 »

cyberax wrote: post #344
canucker2016 wrote: post #329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

from https://github.com/microsoft/VCSamples/tree/master/VC2010Sam... "The WordPad sample demonstrates how to implement an application that imitates the functionality of WordPad, including the user interface elements and some of the capabilities." I should have known it wasn't the real Win95 WordPad source code since this version is written using MFC and C++. C++ was not an approved programming language for Win95 comp…

> C++ was not an approved programming language for Win95 components in its quest to run on Brad Silverberg's (Win95 manager) mom's 4MB RAM PC. Plenty of Windows 95 components were written in C++, including pretty much everything that dealt with OLE. WinNT also used C++ for the graphics layer.

WinNT isn't Win95.

Lots of MS groups were using C++ before Win95, including the Exchange group.

Windows for Workgroups 3.1+ included C++ code.

I recall that in the initial Win95 group meeting, C++ wasn't allowed. I moved to another team, so I don't know if that restriction was relaxed or not and/or when they allowed C++.

The email client included with Win95 wasn't allowed to use C++, including the RichEdit windows control, which had to use C for OLE code - not many other codebases could boast about that - no one signs up for that sort of masochism by choice.

Re: Microsoft is killing WordPad in Windows

#349

Post by tiernano »

BillyTheMage wrote: post #339
tiernano wrote: post #336

in one way, this is a good thing, right? But in another, how do i manage old servers which still use TLS1.0 or TLS1.1... The only browser i can use, most of the time, is Firefox for getting into older IPMI endpoints (old servers that dont get security updates... Thanks HP/Dell...). Guess i will be using a Linux VM for managing that kind of gear now...

I'm confused, what does WordPad have to do with TLS and IPMI?

Feck... i commented on the wrong one... There was one on TLS 1.0 and 1.1 being deprecated... (facepalm)

Re: Microsoft is killing WordPad in Windows

#350

Post by CrlNvl »

quakeguy wrote: post #180
llimos wrote: post #86

Fun fact: Before WordPad there was Microsoft Write. Typing 'write' in the Run dialog still opens WordPad today. They kept the alias for 28 years.

MS are the kings of legacy support, no joke here. It is astonishing really.

This is their strongest point. I still remember being able to install Microsoft Money 99 on a brand new Windows 10 for my uncle, without much difficulties.
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