Not even poor Notepad is safe from Microsoft's AI obsession
- Reference: 1704984306
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/01/11/microsoft_notepad_ai/
- Source link:
The feature is not immediately accessible in any current Windows Insider build, however, enterprising users have ways and means to delve into the operating system and haul out experiments that are not yet ready to see the light of day.
X user @PhantomOfEarth [1]uncovered the changes , which appear to be a work in progress at this time. A pop-up menu titled "Cowriter" is visible, with options to tweak the format and content of the text.
[2]
How these options would fit into the original design of Notepad is debatable since they would seem more at home in something like WordPad, but Microsoft is already in the process of [3]excising that application from Windows , so Notepad it is.
[4]
[5]
Microsoft has been hard at work ruining updating Notepad in recent years. After decades of being left alone, the text editor has had multiple tweaks by Microsoft engineers.
During the Windows 10 era, the editor was added to the Microsoft Store. Its GUI was updated with the [6]introduction of Dark Mode , and [7]tab support turned up in 2023 .
[8]It's a preview party at Microsoft, but do you really want an invite?
[9]New year, new updates for security holes in Windows, Adobe, Android and more
[10]What if Microsoft had given us Windows XP 2024?
[11]Windows keyboards to get a Copilot key – but how quickly will users jump?
Adding AI smarts to the editor seems excessive. Microsoft also appears to be [12]adopting the Paint Cocreator model for the implementation, where users are given a certain number of credits when signing up – a Microsoft account is needed – and a waitlist will be used for the feature.
@PhantomOfEarth [13]commented : "I feel like this is a bit much. Something else could have been added to Notepad instead of AI but hey gotta ride the hype train."
[14]
We'd argue that Notepad has already had more than enough added, particularly considering its roots as a simple text editor.
We asked Microsoft about its plans for AI in Notepad and will update should they respond. There is every chance this is a sign of things to come as the company adds AI functionality everywhere it can on Windows.
AI in Notepad, as shown in the screenshots, does not seem to make much sense – we're sure the wise Register readership could think of something more appropriate for the editor. ®
Get our [15]Tech Resources
[1] https://twitter.com/PhantomOfEarth/status/1744821347480412388
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZaAeuik7BS90zuXJZOLYawAAARg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/05/wordpad_off_windows_11/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZaAeuik7BS90zuXJZOLYawAAARg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZaAeuik7BS90zuXJZOLYawAAARg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2021/12/08/notepad_windows_11_update/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/23/microsoft_developer_windows_build/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/11/microsoft_preview_habit/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/09/january_patch_tuesday/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/04/windows_xp_reimagined/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/04/windows_keyboards_copilot/
[12] https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/use-paint-cocreator-to-generate-ai-art-107a2b3a-62ea-41f5-a638-7bc6e6ea718f
[13] https://twitter.com/PhantomOfEarth/status/1744984715814121477
[14] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZaAeuik7BS90zuXJZOLYawAAARg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
As if another reason was needed to ditch this shithousery and move to another platform.
I could suggest one, it's been around a while...
Missing the point....again
Notepad was simple. It was meant to be simple.. Its whole purpose was to be simple.
Its value was in its simplicity.
Simple
Re: Missing the point....again
Isn't this a perfect microcosm of the rot that's settled in deep at Microsoft tho?
Never miss an opportunity to add "features" to something that was at best already fine, and at worse a bit broken. The new features serving simply as a distraction from how broken other things are and how they're not getting better because LOOK OVER HERE WE HAVE A NEW THING!
Re: Missing the point....again
I see this everywhere, not just with Microsoft. I envision it as an entire population of software developers that can't come up with anything truly innovative, so all they do is tweak perfectly good software in order to justify their employment. Sometimes good enough is good enough - if it ain't broke, don't fix it!
Formatting
I use Notepad when copying and pasting to remove text formatting before pasting it into another program. I was going to mention that in the Wordpad article last week, but figured there had to be easier way to accomplish that task. A quick search indicated that Ctrl-Shift-V does that in many apps.
It looks like you're trying to write a note ...
Would you like help with that?
As if we needed another reason to be using Notepad++....