Farewell WordPad, we hardly knew ye

Microsoft has softly deprecated WordPad, nan bare bones connection processor it's offered astatine nary further costs to users ever since including it pinch Windows 95.

WordPad's demise was revealed successful a alteration to Microsoft's Deprecated features for Windows client document, which arsenic of September 1 added nan pursuing entry:

The package elephantine hasn't explained nan determination to swipe WordPad – a instrumentality that offers basal matter editing functions and allows embedding of images and moreover Excel graphs and sheets. WordPad tin besides unfastened plentifulness of record formats, including Microsoft's .DOCx, but can't prevention into that format. It defaults to nan Rich Text Format and offers nan replacement to prevention arsenic a matter record aliases immoderate unfastened record formats.

The programme besides lacks a spellchecker and connection count facility. Creating tables isn't possible. And nan app often warns it can't ingest, aliases save, each nan features different record formats encode into documents.

That characteristic group saw it inhabit a unusual area – successful betwixt a bare bones matter editor that developers would admit for not adding unwanted formatting to text, and a full-fledged connection processor.

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But astatine nan very keen value of $0.00, it seems churlish to kick astir its limitations. And it's difficult to cognize who will mourn its demise.

Especially arsenic Microsoft’s online type of Word is free to usage for anyone consenting to create an online relationship – arsenic are nan likes of Google Workspaces, Dropbox Paper, and Zoho Writer.

All of nan devices mentioned successful nan erstwhile paragraph connection superior functionality compared to WordPad. But each besides require an net relationship and an relationship pinch their respective work providers.

For those who aren't ever online, aliases would alternatively not create an relationship successful bid to process words, unfastened root alternatives Libre Office and Apache Open Office connection plentifulness much functionality than WordPad astatine nan aforesaid cost.

The Register has doubtless not mentioned immoderate very good free WordPad alternatives. Feel free to usage nan Comments to fto your chap readers cognize what they're missing. ®