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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

#431

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first apps I need to replace on any new windows machine (after installing FF) are Paint, Notepad, Photo/Image viewer and MediaPlayer . The funny thing is their replacements are all ancient as well, and still awesome because they've been thoughtfully upgraded over the years without destroying their conceptual integrity, or they've just been "done" for decades. Paint.Net (v3), Notepad++, IrfanViewer, Foobar2000 & V…

I never understood the need for Notepad++. If I want to edit text quickly, notepad works fine, maybe I'll use vim or something if needed. If I want to view code, again vim works fine, and maybe VSCode if I know I'll be actively working on it. I don't see the usecase for Notepad++ personally speaking.

Try notepad2. It's an decent improvement from notepad while not going full notepad++. I install it on new Windows boxes and have it replace notepad.exe (there is an option to do this in setup.)

Re: Even Microsoft Notepad is getting AI text editing now

#432

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first apps I need to replace on any new windows machine (after installing FF) are Paint, Notepad, Photo/Image viewer and MediaPlayer . The funny thing is their replacements are all ancient as well, and still awesome because they've been thoughtfully upgraded over the years without destroying their conceptual integrity, or they've just been "done" for decades. Paint.Net (v3), Notepad++, IrfanViewer, Foobar2000 & V…

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…

If you care about beautiful interfaces macos and linux will always be way ahead, for sure.

The choice to go for windows as main OS kinda includes prioritizing advanced features and versatility over the UX. Even firefox is not as nice on windows than on mac.

Re: Even Microsoft Notepad is getting AI text editing now

#433

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have already onboarded a scrum team on the code base. They've got to burn those points on something to argue for their payroll and the PO and the lead dev thinks AI is cool.

What is lead dev? Is that an official scrum role somewhere?

It is whatever dev in the team that the team thinks is most senior and/or has the biggest mouth.

Re: Even Microsoft Notepad is getting AI text editing now

#434
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.

It's less effective at the OS wide level because the context is incredibly important. Notepad is used very differently from word processing and other applications. Even in the context of notepad- you're using that app very differently when working in python vs a readme.

AI is best integrated at the application level because the application developers are best suited to tune the algorithm and determine which pieces of context are most relevant.

Re: Even Microsoft Notepad is getting AI text editing now

#435
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 think this is where it will go inevitably, with only specialized AI tools being features baked into products you like.

A lot of our opinions on AI (like the one you just conveyed) stems from now nascent the design thinking around AI truly is. Like early internet, I suspect 10 years from now the UX of these tools will be much more mature. There'll likely always be a need for what ChatGPT has now, but these do feel like OS features.

Re: Even Microsoft Notepad is getting AI text editing now

#436

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.

The first apps I need to replace on any new windows machine (after installing FF) are Paint, Notepad, Photo/Image viewer and MediaPlayer . The funny thing is their replacements are all ancient as well, and still awesome because they've been thoughtfully upgraded over the years without destroying their conceptual integrity, or they've just been "done" for decades. Paint.Net (v3), Notepad++, IrfanViewer, Foobar2000 & V…

They don't make the paints and notepads like they used to.

Re: Even Microsoft Notepad is getting AI text editing now

#437

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.

The first apps I need to replace on any new windows machine (after installing FF) are Paint, Notepad, Photo/Image viewer and MediaPlayer . The funny thing is their replacements are all ancient as well, and still awesome because they've been thoughtfully upgraded over the years without destroying their conceptual integrity, or they've just been "done" for decades. Paint.Net (v3), Notepad++, IrfanViewer, Foobar2000 & V…

Be careful with Irfanview and XNView as these are free strictly for personal use (non commercial). An open-source alternative I've been using is: https://nomacs.org/

Re: Even Microsoft Notepad is getting AI text editing now

#438

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Word is the perfect place for it? Or OneNote. This would be like if Apple added AI rewrite to TextEdit instead of Apple Notes. Notepad's only job is to open text files as fast as possible.

Apple's AI Writing Tools is available in TextEdit.

TBH I had to check that TextEdit still existed. I guess that makes sense since Apple does everything as an API.

Re: Even Microsoft Notepad is getting AI text editing now

#439
post #389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

tabs and autosave are pretty essential features. they make notepad a single window app (no need to fiddle with a bunch of windows) and easy to open and close while keeping all tabs/files open (no need to save every file on exit, no need to reopen every file). it improves the usefulness of previous notepad, which was clunky to use for lack of those features and prone to data loss (no autosave, duh), which would actual…

Autosaving introduces it's own dataloss problem, though, because now you might accidentally overwrite a file you didn't actually want to change. Inside my IDE that's not a problem because my software projects are under version control and I can easily revert unwanted changes, but for general files somewhere on my hard disk… hm.

it's not really hard to separate between 'vague notes that can just hang' and 'files that should be just saved to avoid ambiguity'. for me, autosave works better for 'text that isn't in a file and is yet to be put together and saved into a file'. it's fine for quick notetaking that isn't pressing enough to plug into an IDE or to even launch it for just that.

Re: Even Microsoft Notepad is getting AI text editing now

#440

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".

"Introducing Windows 365 Universal Clipboard, ensure all of your random text/password/keys get uploaded to a cloud service, and your clipboard history preserved forever. Search your Windows clipboard history from your PC, phone or even television, anytime"

Doesn't Apple already do some of this with continuity clipboard? I can cmd-c text and files on my Mac and paste on any device signed into the same Apple account - I would assume this data is passing through iCloud.
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