Microsoft plans on removing Wordpad from Windows 12, says it is no longer being updated
Microsoft is planning to drop Wordpad after nearly 30 years. The company says that the application is no longer being updated and will be removed from the next release of Windows.
In Short
- Microsoft is planning to get rid of WordPad.
- The company says, "WordPad is no longer being updated and will be removed in a future release."
- The company is instead recommending users switch to Microsoft Word or Notepad.
Remember WordPad? The OG app that let you carry out all the basic tasks related to writing and editing? Yes, it isn't as popular or feature-rich as MS Word - a paid application- but it gets the job done nevertheless. And it is absolutely free of cost. However, the app hasn't received any update in a long time and as per recent reports, Microsoft is planning to get rid of it in future release of Windows.
Microsoft plans on removing WordPad
According to an IANS report, Microsoft said that it is removing WordPad since it is no longer being updated. The company also encouraged users to either switch to MS Word for rich text documents or Notepad for plain documents.
"WordPad is no longer being updated and will be removed in a future release of Windows.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," a recent support note published by the company said.
The news of Microsoft's plans to remove WordPad comes right after the company announced updates for Notepad. The application, widely used across the world, didn't really allow users to do much apart from typing in information and changing its font, size, etc. However, recently, Microsoft announced features like autosave and tab retraction that are coming to the app.
About Windows 12 and Microsoft's focus on AI
Microsoft has been focusing more and more on generative AI and it is being reported that Windows 12 will also roll out with AI-powered features. While nothing has been announced by Microsoft yet, the Windows 12 is rumoured to be released in 2024. The exclusive features on Windows 12 have been kept under the wraps, as was the case with Windows 11, and we will only get to know more about them as the launch date approaches.
Circling back to Microsoft's focus on generative AI, the company has rolled out various upgrades for its all-new AI-powered Bing. From image generation to accepting voice input, the new Bing is being widely used by people across the globe. Microsoft's vice president Yusuf Mehdi told CNN in May this year that Bing was getting 'more than 100 million daily active users each day'.
The AI-powered Bing was rolled out as a competitor to Google in February this year. Around the same time, Google had unveiled its own AI chatbot, Bard. Gradually, Google also rolled out the all-new AI-powered Google Search that would change the way that people look up things on Google.
At the time of Bing's launch, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella had called Google the '800 pound gorilla' when it comes to the online search space and had said that a little competition in the market would benefit everyone.