There is no denying that Microsoft Windows dominates a large chunk of global PCs and laptops. The OS has undergone several changes over the years and new versions have been unveiled to replace older ones. However, some inbuilt Windows apps have become iconic since their inception. One of these is WordPad. The free bundled word processing application shipped with each iteration of Windows. However, Microsoft has now planned to remove WordPad from the upcoming version of Windows. This was recently confirmed in a Microsoft post.
Microsoft will no longer update WordPad and gradually it will be discarded from its popular OS. The software giant is likely to endorse its commercially available Office suite component, aka MS Word more. This will bring an end to the impressive legacy of WordPad, first launched with Windows 95. Microsoft will however retain Notepad, another free and very popular application.
Sometime back, Microsoft said it would augment Notepad with new features like automated tab restoral. Windows Notepad received a big update in 2018 and the Windows 11 version received some more enhanced features. WordPad did receive a minor update with the Ribbon UI of Windows 7. However, in Windows 8, it only received a small revamp. With upcoming Windows 12 slated for a 2024 release, WordPad will cease to exist.
