Microsoft is shutting down long-running ‘nostalgic’ app after 30 years – but fans say ‘it’s about time’
The SOFTWARE giant Microsoft will discontinue the tried and tested nostalgia app after 30 years.
The tech giant announced that it has stopped updating one of its old apps.
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The end of WordPad was announced on September 1st, 2023 on the official Microsoft website.
A document listed a number of changes to several software programs characteristics from Windows 11 and Windows 10.
The explanation read: “WordPad is no longer being updated and will be removed shortly Future Release of Windows.
“We recommend Microsoft Word for rich text documents like .doc and .rtf and Windows Notepad for plain text documents like .txt.”
The free basic word processor was introduced in 1995 and offers basic text editing functions as well as the ability to add images and Excel graph sheets.
It was automatically installed on the Windows 95 system when it was first released.
Users can open the app in various file formats including .doc – however, it cannot be saved in this format.
The tech giant didn’t comment on the reasons for the move, but experts said it could be due to limitations compared to newer apps.
The program lacks a spell checker and a word count feature.
Users also encountered various difficulties when trying to add tables or material from other formats.
WordPad was updated with Windows 7 after a redesign, but the forgotten program hasn’t received any further additions in the last decade.
Since then, the program has been offered as an optional Windows feature after the release of Windows 10 Insider Build 19551 in February 2020.
However, the company is finally discontinuing the app and is now proposing Microsoft Word as a replacement app for the now discontinued WordPad.
The demise came as a shock to nostalgic users who had processed their old texts in the program.
One user sobbed, “This is actually a big deal to me. I’ve been using Wordpad for many years and have saved several hundred notes in .rtf format.”
However, other tech enthusiasts were less impressed, claiming “it’s about time”.
User @ObtimizedAir said: “I finally forgot Wordpad even existed. Notepad and Notepad++ all day.”
Another added: “It’s like someone finally woke up and decided to get rid of all that junk that nobody is using. First Visual Studio for Mac and then Wordpad.”
Other tech experts got involved, recommending cheaper alternatives to replace the word processor.
@CaosFenix said: “I would recommend everyone to just switch to Libreoffice. It’s free and way better than Wordpad anyway.”
“It’s at least as good as word in most scenarios, with the only caveat if you’re a business and need more niche integrations.
“If you just need a good office suite, that’s enough for free.”
It comes as Microsoft has recovered from a major outage preventing Outlook users from logging into their email.
The tech company shut down its Microsoft 365 services after apps like chat platform Teams became inaccessible to some.