Goodbye WordPad: Microsoft cuts free word processing programme
WordPad will no longer be part of Windows in future. Microsoft does not offer a free replacement, but refers to Word.
WordPad saw the light of day in 1995 as the successor to Microsoft Write. To put that in perspective: In the same year, DVDs were invented, Toy Story (the first part!) was released in cinemas and the Playstation (also the first) was launched in Europe. 28 years later Microsoft is now announcing the end of the word processing programme that appeared as part of Microsoft Windows 95.
WordPad has undergone various changes in its history. In addition to plain text files, it originally supported the Rich Text Format (RTF). From Windows XP onwards, Unicode was also included. Since Windows 7, the word processing programme has also been able to read and write Office Open XML (.docx) and OpenDocument (.odt).
The discontinuation of the programme seems a logical step for Windows. WordPad pales in comparison to free alternatives such as Open Office or online tools such as Google Docs. Microsoft has not invested any development work in the outdated tool since Windows 8. And Microsoft does not make money with freeware. The recommendation to use Word in future makes sense from a business perspective. WordPad will probably be history once and for all with Windows 12, which is due next year.
In contrast to WordPad, the 12-year-old, simple text editor "Editor" (NotePad), will be equipped with more functions. These include an autosave function and the ability to restore tabs.
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