Microsoft deprecating WordPad is everything that’s wrong with Microsoft

Taking away something that used to be free in order to sell something else in its place a new low for the company

The writing has been on the wall for WordPad for a few months now, but it’s still sad — let alone infuriating — to see the iconic Windows app go. It was the best kind of document processor: one that let people just write. (Image: The Point)

So, to the surprise of absolutely no one, Microsoft went ahead with its plan — first announced back in September 2023 — to deprecate WordPad, the venerable document editor that’s been a part of Windows since 1995. Ars Technica reports that the program is not included in either the latest beta version or the January dev channel build of Windows 11. It can also not be re-installed from e.g. the Microsoft app store.

It’s not clear whether the next significant update for Windows 10/11 will actually delete the executable program file itself from any active OS installations or if it just won’t be included in any new Windows installation moving forward. For all intends and purposes, though, this really is the end of the road for WordPad, an application yours truly has been using daily since the early Windows 95 days. So he just hates to see it go, as do other people if online comments to relevant stories are anything to go by.

More importantly, though, it is the reason behind Microsoft’s move that’s infuriating — and also pretty much in line with the company’s attitude towards consumer choice…