- Windows 11’s Notepad app has some new options in testing
- These embrace a brand new AI twist and contemporary formatting powers
- It’s unlucky timing, as Notepad has been hit by a brand new bug in Windows 11, highlighting points round what Microsoft ought to actually be specializing in
Users of the enduring Notepad app fall into two camps: those that are happy Microsoft is build up the Windows 11 app with new options, and those who hate that line of development, and contemplate it to be bloating the software. Should you fall within the latter camp, you will not like the truth that Notepad is getting extra capabilities, and Paint is, too.
Windows Central noticed that Microsoft revealed new variations of each of those apps in testing, with Notepad getting some further formatting powers, in addition to a brand new ‘welcome expertise’ and an additional sprint of AI.
On the formatting front, Notepad is getting nested lists – indented subcategories within lists – and a strikethrough capability (drawing a line through text, meaning crossing something out).
The new welcome experience is a panel that pops up detailing the latest changes in Notepad, so you know what’s been recently added (or tacked on since you last launched the app).
And finally, the AI change in Notepad is for the Write, Rewrite, and Summarize features, which will now start a preview of the response the AI is providing in a faster manner. In short, you’ll be able to begin reading the AI’s output more quickly.
As for Windows 11’s Paint app, the main change here is the new coloring book, which is again an AI feature, one that allows you to create one such book based on a theme.
So, if you want to create a coloring book about, say, flying space whales zooming through the solar system (why not?), you can ask the AI to knock one up, and it’ll create the various pages.
Analysis: for me, this goes beyond ‘bloat vs functionality’ and into ‘development vs fundamentals’
As noted at the outset, the trio of changes for Notepad will likely either please you or infuriate you – unless maybe you never use Notepad and don’t care. At any rate, those concerned about the basic text editor becoming bloated – and indeed much less basic, with a whole raft of features added in recent times – are not going to be happy with a pop-up release notes panel, or further formatting and AI nuances.
The worry is that eventually, Notepad is going to end up far away from being the streamlined text editor that was the original concept, and it’ll load more slowly and be less responsive in general thanks to all these extra trimmings.
Part of this is Microsoft compensating for the lack of WordPad in Windows 11, which was the middle-ground app between Notepad and the full version of Word before Microsoft ditched it from Windows 11. So, you possibly can see the place the software program big is coming from in that respect, though it begs the query: why drop WordPad within the first place?
Anyhow, the timing of this new model of Notepad is attention-grabbing as a result of it arrives simply as a irritating bug in Windows 11 has meant that the app is crashing for various individuals. (This isn’t just about Notepad, thoughts you, nevertheless it is likely one of the affected items of software program). The underlying challenge seems to be an issue with the Microsoft retailer – or probably different elements – nevertheless it’s clear sufficient it is not truly the fault of Notepad.
Even so, the truth that Microsoft retains creating increasingly more severely annoying bugs – some minor, some main, like this week’s app-crashing antics – factors once more to the problem of Windows 11 fundamentals versus improvement of the OS.
Which is to say, people want Microsoft to fix the basics with Windows 11, curing all of the bugs, oddities and sluggishness with the interface, and usually getting its operating system in good working order beneath the hood – which ought to (hopefully) imply fewer bugs popping up within the desktop OS. I do not see the way it would not. And on high of that, Microsoft additionally wants to enhance its high quality assurance (QA) processes round updates to double down on stamping out gremlins within the works.
Most individuals need this to occur over and above prioritizing new options coming to Windows 11 and its default apps like Notepad. Now, I notice Microsoft isn’t going to successfully freeze improvement on its working system, and I do not suppose it must go that far anyway – nevertheless it’s clear sufficient that priorities should be readjusted right here. Stop worrying about jamming many extra capabilities, and particularly AI options, into Windows 11, and begin probing the basics extra deeply, and fixing stuff.
I’d actually wish to see some acknowledgement from Microsoft that the state of Windows 11 proper now is not adequate. Otherwise, the ‘Microslop’ nickname may stick quick, and there will likely be (additional) reputational injury by way of the general public notion of the standard of Windows 11. Maybe irreparable injury, arguably.
Microsoft should not neglect that the popularity of the OS is intimately linked to the success of its massive drive with AI. People have to belief Microsoft’s AI agents to be let free on their PC, and be snug granting them entry to their private information, and that will not occur if Windows 11 is considered a malfunctioning desktop platform that is limping alongside, hamstrung by subpar QA and testing, and struggling a relentless stream of bugs.
To reiterate, I’m not saying Microsoft ought to completely rein in improvement of recent options, or AI performance – as a result of clearly, that’s by no means going to occur. But I’m going to proceed to bang the well-beaten drum for the concept that there must be a greater steadiness between these incoming new options and sustaining all the present stuff – as a result of what Microsoft is doing proper now simply is not working, not for me, and never for a lot of others.
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