28 years later Microsoft killed Wordpad! Did you use it?

Months after its announcement, Microsoft has finally released a new version of Windows 11 Canary Build with WordPad eliminated from existence. Microsoft has described WordPad as obsolete, indicating that it is no longer in development and therefore will no longer include it in subsequent versions of Windows 11. The Windows 11 Canary Build is available for download only to Windows Insiders, but reflects the upcoming changes aimed at the masses.

28 years later Microsoft killed Wordpad! Did you use it?

Microsoft explained the reason for removing WordPad. So “from this compilation onwards, the WordPad and People applications will no longer be installed after a clean installation of the operating system. WordPad later disappears with an update. WordPad cannot be reinstalled.”

For many years, WordPad was the free word processor that came with the operating system, dating back to the Windows 95 era. It is also preferred by many for creating or editing simple rich text documents. But there is another recommended word processor instead. Microsoft said on Friday: “We recommend the Microsoft Word for rich text documents like .doc and .rtf and Windows Notepad for plain text documents like .txt.”

Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26020 also does away with Cortana. An unsurprising move here, as Microsoft is betting everything on Co-Pilot AI to be more than just an assistant.

Will you go back?

Five years ago, Microsoft planned to remove Windows Paint, with the Windows 10 Fall Creator Update being the first version without it. But Microsoft relented due to popular demand, making the application an installable option through the Microsoft Store. Eventually, MS Paint was significantly revamped with Windows 11. Perhaps, if the demand is there, Microsoft could do the same with WordPad. In the best case scenario, we could see Microsoft making WordPad available for installation through its app store. Although there are many alternatives, WordPad came by default and had many more word processing features than NotePad.