Windows 10 Insider wondering where Notepad has gone? Fear not, Microsoft found it down the back of Dev Channel
- Reference: 1593087825
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/06/25/windows_insider_20152/
- Source link:
[2]Build 20152 arrived overnight and - as well as knocking this hack's test rig out for 90 minutes while it had a good hard think about what the last install had done - initially looked like a return to form for the Windows Insider team. There was very little in the way of new features.
Certainly, after the arrival of GPU support in the Windows Subsystem for Linux 2, fans might have expected further excitement – perhaps some Windows 10X goodness, or some of the UI changes teased in Microsoft's recent marketing emissions.
Sadly, there were no whizzbang features this time around, just a fix for the Windows Update icon not showing up in the notification area when a reboot is needed and the addition of a "Continue" button to the "Windows needs space to continue" dialog.
However, we were heartened to note that "We fixed an issue that could result in Notepad unexpectedly being removed after resetting your PC."
If you were one of the afflicted, you can restore Notepad via the Optional Features screen, although we'd have to regard Notepad as anything but optional. Losing it would be like seeing a beloved family pet meet an unfortunate end (even though one knows it is long past its prime).
While Notepad's main use for many these days is as a way to [3]remove all the tedious formatting that accompanies copied text, it has been on the [4]receiving end of some fiddling in recent versions of Windows 10, having been a part of the inbox Windows experience since Windows 1.0 in 1985.
Other known issues in this build include problems with Xbox controllers, dimmer screens and a reporting of 0.00 GHz CPU usage in the Task Manager. Notepad is also not always reopening files automatically saved during a restart.
So, while the latest Windows 10 Dev Channel may lack the excitement of the last, the preservation of Notepad is at least a reminder of those halcyon days when all we had to worry about was hitting 88mph in a Delorean and avoiding losing an eye to some of the more excessive examples of the shoulderpad fad. ®
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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/18/windows_10_linux_wsl2/
[2] https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2020/06/24/announcing-windows-10-insider-preview-build-20152/
[3] https://twitter.com/JenMsft/status/1273272589578690563
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2018/05/08/windows_notepad_unix_linux_macos/
[5] https://go.theregister.com/tl/1956/-8478/why-container-security-matters-to-your-business?td=wptl1956
Re: Good Grief...
Because most of the hype at MS is around fantastic new fonts for notepad.
Probably 75% of the team is working on this, and probably they forgot to check it in for the new build ...
Re: Good Grief...
Because their twat-o-meter is full hard over to 'complete wanker' mode and they have to screw around with anything and everything.
If its old and worked thats no good
If its new but is so fucked around with it doesnt work how it used to but we've added 'cool stuff' then thats fine.
Yuk.
What...
"... an issue that could result in Notepad unexpectedly being removed after resetting your PC."
What kind of spaghetti mess is going on over there?
Better alternative, skip MS
Notepad++ https://notepad-plus-plus.org/
Re: Better alternative, skip MS
The trouble with that is it's not guaranteed to be on every machine you connect to; whereas for decades you could rely on "win-r notepad enter" and be typing away. It's like vi on any unix-like OS... you might as well learn it as no matter what you _like_ using, you can rely on "vi filename" doing what you expect.
Re: Better alternative, skip MS
Provided you know how to exit vi without rebooting :)
Re: Better alternative, skip MS
ZZ
Rock on.
(And now none of you can forget how to exit vi without rebooting ... )
Re: Better alternative, skip MS
I thought the command to exit vi without rebooting was "killall -9 vi" ?
Re: Better alternative, skip MS
i
Got used to vi on AIX boxes back in the late 90s.
I'm on Linux boxes regularly, so still use it to this day.
I don't even use vim!
Not really an expert with it, but i, /keyword, dd, L-Shift+a seem to get me through.
Other editors seemed to come and go, but as you say, vi is always there (Thankfully!).
:wq
Re: Better alternative, skip MS
"I don't even use vim!"
Your command-line version of vi might be a link to Vim ... try this:
$ file /usr/bin/vi
Re: Better alternative, skip MS
There are vi-alikes that run on the Redmond OS, too. If you're unfamiliar with the concept, try vim.org first. Recommended.
"as well as knocking this hack's test rig out for 90 minutes while it had a good hard think about what the last install had done"
How many DevOps release cycles did you miss while your computer was off in lala-land?
Last time I updated Slackware, the system continued compiling my compiler while I read ElReg, kept an eye on IRC, and listened to music, all without skipping a beat.
I can't believe people (especially supposed developers!) still put up with the barriers to productivity that Redmond insists on shipping. I wonder how many man-hours have been wasted, world-wide, with this kind of unnecessary bullshit ... and how many dollars in real-world money have been spent by organizations in the last ten years chasing a usable system based on Redmond code.
,
What a fucking waste. The mind absolutely boggles.
Good Grief...
how can they 'lose' an application that's hung around since the mid 80's?