4 ms·

Wordpad confused too many people looking for Word and not finding Microsoft 365 for Family Workgroups Home Edition, especially after they boosted Windows 10 Wor

Wordpad confused too many people looking for Word and not finding Microsoft 365 for Family Workgroups Home Edition, especially after they boosted Windows 10 Wordpad to have enough features/power to replace the lost word processor of Microsoft Works, so it was removed.

JohnFen 9mo ago
That's a patently absurd reason (although I could totally see it). They could have just renamed it rather than destroy the value proposition of Notepad.
- WorldMaker 9mo ago
  True. Though some of that destruction to Notepad isn't just the loss of Wordpad's fault but Microsoft's problems with Notepad++ eating its brand for too many years and making too many "must install" lists. I'm not entirely sure how Copilot integration helps them beat Notepad++, but I suppose that's why I'm not a PM.
  - JohnFen 9mo ago
    Why would they care about Notepad++'s impact, though? Nobody is deciding whether or not to use Windows based on Notepad. For some of us, Notepad was most useful in its original form and Notepad++ was not a good replacement. But at least an earlier, less bad, version of Notepad is still available on Win 11. There's just no icon or link to it, so you have to know it's there. It's C:\Windows\notepad.exe
    - WorldMaker 9mo ago
      As someone else who has never particularly liked Notepad++ either, I mostly agree that chasing after it is a mistake, especially this many years after Notepad++'s height in relevancy. Perhaps ironically, many of those same "must install" lists that included Notepad++ have moved on to other tools, one of them being Microsoft's own VSCode. VSCode is a "good, helpful" AI host to sell more AI, so I presume some "AI in Notepad" pressure is "capture the few remaining people not yet installing VSCode out of the box". > But at least an earlier, less bad, version of Notepad is still available on Win 11. There's just no icon or link to it, so you have to know it's there. It's C:\Windows\notepad.exe Also, for what it is worth, a new relative to EDIT.COM is now back, in almost its former glory, just not yet installed in every Windows by default: https://github.com/microsoft/edit https://github.com/microsoft/edit
anonymars 9mo ago
You're a little behind, it's Microsoft 365 Copilot Premium now (They may have turned it into a joke, but that is the truth https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/the-microsoft-365-app-transition-to-the-microsoft-365-copilot-app-22eac811-08d6-4df3-92dd-77f193e354a5 https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/the-microsoft-365...) Maybe these days for interviews, instead of calculating how many golf balls fit in a schoolbus, they can calculate how much time, money, intellect, and brand goodwill they've spent renaming Office 365 -> Microsoft 365 -> Microsoft 365 Copilot. Then add in how much time, money, and intellect everyone else has spent trying to figure it out
- WorldMaker 9mo ago
  Though to be fair I wasn't trying for accuracy, I also included throwback digs from Windows for Workgroups and Microsoft's "Edition" phase. (Windows 98 Second Edition; Windows Millennium Edition; etc.) Particularly because "Edition" will probably come back around and has already partially done so. (Some of the Microsoft 365 nomenclature does refer to the "home edition" versus "work edition", but for now it is still a little-e SKU difference and not yet a SKU Brand.) Microsoft marketing has gifted us so many terrible brand names across a long history of trying to find the worst, most generic brand names. (To which you can partially blame the "Great" marketer that looked at WordStar, WordPerfect, and many others and suggested to Microsoft the generic "Word" was the best approach. If you own the generic the only way to rebrand is to stack more generic.)
  - basch 9mo ago
    Office and Windows are good words. Copilot is a good word. Microsoft and 365 are ok. Microsoft should really be the hidden name like Meta or Alphabet. Office Copilot is a great name. Of course they didnt use it.
  - anonymars 9mo ago
    Oh I know, it was tongue-in-cheek in the sense of "it's tough to out-satire these folks" I'm not sure if they'll manage to top this one ("Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 R2 SP3 Feature Pack") https://www.microsoft.com/en-US/download/details.aspx?id=44272 https://www.microsoft.com/en-US/download/details.aspx?id=442... I might title this piece, "Full STEM without liberal arts"

JohnFen 9mo ago

That's a patently absurd reason (although I could totally see it). They could have just renamed it rather than destroy the value proposition of Notepad.

WorldMaker 9mo ago
True. Though some of that destruction to Notepad isn't just the loss of Wordpad's fault but Microsoft's problems with Notepad++ eating its brand for too many years and making too many "must install" lists. I'm not entirely sure how Copilot integration helps them beat Notepad++, but I suppose that's why I'm not a PM.
- JohnFen 9mo ago
  Why would they care about Notepad++'s impact, though? Nobody is deciding whether or not to use Windows based on Notepad. For some of us, Notepad was most useful in its original form and Notepad++ was not a good replacement. But at least an earlier, less bad, version of Notepad is still available on Win 11. There's just no icon or link to it, so you have to know it's there. It's C:\Windows\notepad.exe
  - WorldMaker 9mo ago
    As someone else who has never particularly liked Notepad++ either, I mostly agree that chasing after it is a mistake, especially this many years after Notepad++'s height in relevancy. Perhaps ironically, many of those same "must install" lists that included Notepad++ have moved on to other tools, one of them being Microsoft's own VSCode. VSCode is a "good, helpful" AI host to sell more AI, so I presume some "AI in Notepad" pressure is "capture the few remaining people not yet installing VSCode out of the box". > But at least an earlier, less bad, version of Notepad is still available on Win 11. There's just no icon or link to it, so you have to know it's there. It's C:\Windows\notepad.exe Also, for what it is worth, a new relative to EDIT.COM is now back, in almost its former glory, just not yet installed in every Windows by default: https://github.com/microsoft/edit https://github.com/microsoft/edit

anonymars 9mo ago

You're a little behind, it's Microsoft 365 Copilot Premium now (They may have turned it into a joke, but that is the truth https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/the-microsoft-365-app-transition-to-the-microsoft-365-copilot-app-22eac811-08d6-4df3-92dd-77f193e354a5 https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/the-microsoft-365...) Maybe these days for interviews, instead of calculating how many golf balls fit in a schoolbus, they can calculate how much time, money, intellect, and brand goodwill they've spent renaming Office 365 -> Microsoft 365 -> Microsoft 365 Copilot. Then add in how much time, money, and intellect everyone else has spent trying to figure it out

WorldMaker 9mo ago
Though to be fair I wasn't trying for accuracy, I also included throwback digs from Windows for Workgroups and Microsoft's "Edition" phase. (Windows 98 Second Edition; Windows Millennium Edition; etc.) Particularly because "Edition" will probably come back around and has already partially done so. (Some of the Microsoft 365 nomenclature does refer to the "home edition" versus "work edition", but for now it is still a little-e SKU difference and not yet a SKU Brand.) Microsoft marketing has gifted us so many terrible brand names across a long history of trying to find the worst, most generic brand names. (To which you can partially blame the "Great" marketer that looked at WordStar, WordPerfect, and many others and suggested to Microsoft the generic "Word" was the best approach. If you own the generic the only way to rebrand is to stack more generic.)
- basch 9mo ago
  Office and Windows are good words. Copilot is a good word. Microsoft and 365 are ok. Microsoft should really be the hidden name like Meta or Alphabet. Office Copilot is a great name. Of course they didnt use it.
- anonymars 9mo ago
  Oh I know, it was tongue-in-cheek in the sense of "it's tough to out-satire these folks" I'm not sure if they'll manage to top this one ("Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 R2 SP3 Feature Pack") https://www.microsoft.com/en-US/download/details.aspx?id=44272 https://www.microsoft.com/en-US/download/details.aspx?id=442... I might title this piece, "Full STEM without liberal arts"