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Windows 11 Notepad to support Markdown

blogs.windows.com

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Re: Windows 11 Notepad to support Markdown

#431

Post by perching_aix »

themafia wrote: post #387
perching_aix wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought it is by introducing an RCE vulnerability that you get an RCE vulnerability. I'm being facetious of course, but this recent rhetorical trend of people confidently vouching for "pet" in "pet vs. cattle" is not a sustainable decision, even if it's admittedly plain practical on the short to medium run, or in given contexts even longer. It's just a dangerous and irresponsible lesson to blindly repeat I think. C…

> Change happens. The low level tool that has served to rescue more systems than I can count does not need to "change" simply because "it happens, bro." > while we can mechanistically You can rule it out with process as well. As in "don't change what isn't broken." > If they can introduce an RCE to Notepad Then they clearly feel they have no viable competition. This is table stakes. Getting it wrong should lose you m…

If I told you to stop using computers, and then you won't have computer problems, I don't think you would find that particularly helpful or charitable either, would you?

What you find a trusty "low-level" tool is a demo application for a basic WYSIWYG text editor. They modernized it so that it remains being perceived that way, instead of letting it be increasingly misclassified as a legacy product for the enthusiast, like you just did.

Re: Windows 11 Notepad to support Markdown

#432

Post by avadodin »

akgoel wrote: post #84
CivBase wrote: post #7

Is the value add for Notepad not that it is litterally the most bare bones graphical text editor available in Windows? Microsoft has already positioned VS Code as its code editor and OneNote as its notetaking app. Why should Notepad compete with these offerings?

In a Copilot world, Notepad is now meant to render Copilot output, which LLMs do a good job of spitting out Markdown.

Why not remove the human trying to use Windows from the loop and have a server at Redmond feeding Copilot slop to a Copilot agent on the next server forever?

Anyone's got the CEO's number?

Tell him I don't charge for my genius management advice most of the time.

Re: Windows 11 Notepad to support Markdown

#434

Post by alwa »

perching_aix wrote: post #431
themafia wrote: post #387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Change happens. The low level tool that has served to rescue more systems than I can count does not need to "change" simply because "it happens, bro." > while we can mechanistically You can rule it out with process as well. As in "don't change what isn't broken." > If they can introduce an RCE to Notepad Then they clearly feel they have no viable competition. This is table stakes. Getting it wrong should lose you m…

If I told you to stop using computers, and then you won't have computer problems, I don't think you would find that particularly helpful or charitable either, would you? What you find a trusty "low-level" tool is a demo application for a basic WYSIWYG text editor. They modernized it so that it remains being perceived that way, instead of letting it be increasingly misclassified as a legacy product for the enthusiast,…

I thought "basic WYSIWYG text editor" was more WordPad's lane, no? May it rest...

Re: Windows 11 Notepad to support Markdown

#435

Post by TeMPOraL »

eurleif wrote: post #382
TeMPOraL wrote: post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh. I was going to say, last time I saw this was 20+ years ago, and I forgot it exists - but I must be remembering something else. It seems `edit` is a new thing , if I'm to believe https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/edit/ I can confirm it exists on my Windows 11 machine, and I didn't install it specifically, though it's definitely not a base install (upgraded from Windows 10, and plenty of dev tooling instal…

The documentation doesn't make this entirely clear, but I think these are two separate things: the original `edit` command which is built into Windows 11 (and has been built into prior Windows releases), and a replacement written in Rust that can optionally be installed. Note that my link is dated 2023, whereas Wikipedia says that Microsoft Edit was first released in 2025: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS-DOS_Editor

Thanks, this explains the mystery, and now the timelines add up.

So it turns out, EDIT.COM was one of the first - if not the first - computer programs I ever saw and used, back when the first PC showed up in the house. For some reason, someone in the family guessed that 9yo me will be interested in DOS and QBasic. A few years later, I used it from Windows for some time, when I was learning X86 assembly (I wanted to learn how to make a video game, so I went to the local library looking for some "intro to programming" book, and mistakes were made).

Afterwards, it was Borland C++ 3.1 (another TUI classic) and vim/Emacs, and I forgot about EDIT.com entirely. This new Microsoft Edit is something new, and something else, but similar enough that it brought those memories back.

Thanks again!

Re: Windows 11 Notepad to support Markdown

#437

Post by zombot »

sedatk wrote: post #317

It doesn't support basic code/monospace blocks using backticks: > Unsupported Syntax Detected > This file contains syntax that isn't fully supported in formatted view. Some content may not render as intended, and switching views could modify parts of your original Markdown. Do you want to continue?

When has MS ever implemented someone else's standard or even convention (MD is not really a standard)? They only ever implemented their own incompatible parody. They're even incompatible with themselves, because backticks do work in MS Teams. This software is probably vibecoded slop.

Re: Windows 11 Notepad to support Markdown

#438

Post by sznio »

perching_aix wrote: post #416
drited wrote: post #409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does pet" in "pet vs. cattle" mean?

It comes from the world of systems operations. Something long-lived and trusted, so high emotional attachment (pet), vs. something short-lived that thus does not need to be trusted, so comparatively low emotional attachment (cattle). For example, Bob's one-of-a-kind trusty server from which Bob is nigh inseparable, vs. a Docker container with a version controlled config you routinely tear down and bring up instances…

For development, I'd see a different mapping.

Pets are projects that you toy with and keep adding new features, even when the main objective has been met. Cattle are projects that do what they are supposed to and are left alone.

I'd much rather have Notepad fall into the cattle category.

Re: Windows 11 Notepad to support Markdown

#439

Post by Elfener »

jchw wrote: post #405

> Coloring book will be available only on Copilot+ PCs. To use Coloring book, you will need to sign in with your Microsoft account. Can someone please explain why these two things are ever simultaneously true? You buy the stupid Copilot+ PC that has "AI" NPU hardware, right? So the AI features should be able to run locally. But if you have to sign in with a Microsoft account, then surely, it doesn't run locally, whic…

I read somewhere that even for the "Copilot" things that supposedly run locally, windows needs to send a request to microsoft to confirm if your input is allowed by their rules.

Re: Windows 11 Notepad to support Markdown

#440

Post by zombot »

aqfamnzc wrote: post #372
QuiDortDine wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So custom implementation, then? How very Microsoft.

Even funnier when you remember that they own github, the place where arguably markdown was popularized.

> markdown was popularized.

That was before MS started vibecoding all their software.

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