As Windows 10 operating system was
being developed, there must have been discussion at Microsoft about how to
reinvent or replace their old text editor called Notepad. (I’m speculating after decades of observing
their culture and using the products.)
Opportunity for a new name or extreme makeover? It's so ancient, clean, simple, and easy to
use despite numerous limitations, it must be disdained by sales & marketing
departments as an embarrassment. Naturally,
Notepad lives on with Windows 10, with a cleaner look (white top bar and
narrower border) because it has not outlived its usefulness. I can just see the exec's eyes rolling after
the minor touchup for packaging Notepad with all the exciting new stuff he/she sees
as light years ahead of it. Why doesn't
everyone use Sticky Notes (like Post-it notes people used to stick on their
monitor.)
I love Notepad! Unlike MS Word and others, it's lean and fast, opening and saving instantly like the stock McD
99-cent, plain cheeseburger when I'm on the run.
Since 1996, this obscure program has been my most faithful digital
companion, especially for stripping away unwanted formats and codes. One little learning curve, that’s all. As with our 6-in. ruler letter openers, I
keep counting the ways it makes my life work.
No embarrassment about clean and simple at my age. If I live a few more years, I may proudly be
the last Notepad user standing – a survivor of software wars/nightmares,
programmer dreams come true, and waves of learning curves with everything
except Notepad. Like riding a surfboard
instead of being battered to death by the waves, life with Notepad is on the
fast track when I want to catch one, and on smooth water when I rest at
ease. At home on a lonely country road
as it is on a busy freeway (carriageway or motorway in UK.) Sharing Notepad with others, I brag about its
virtues and uses. Don't look for any news flashes or marketing of this hidden gem; it’s free of all that noise. Notepad text is searchable and easy to copy
into any word processor, spreadsheet, blog, or other social media. Use it for journaling, short notes, long
notes, to-do lists, documenting genealogy, copying website text, writing blog posts and books, etc. As Google describes, "a boring image, but scratch the surface and it's fascinating."
Notably, the little dynamo is seriously underrated and underappreciated in a cloudy world stuffed with overrated, overvalued, flashy software. There – I've said my peace/piece. By 2020, when I write my personal history with 20th-century text files copied by a smartphone publishing app, I will have proved my point.
