- Windows 11’s Notepad app has some new features in testing
- These include a new AI twist and fresh formatting powers
- It’s unfortunate timing, as Notepad has been hit by a new bug in Windows 11, highlighting issues around what Microsoft should really be focusing on
Users of the iconic Notepad app fall into two camps: those who are pleased Microsoft is building up the Windows 11 app with new features, and those who hate that line of development, and consider it to be bloating the software. Should you fall in the latter camp, you won’t like the fact that Notepad is getting more capabilities, and Paint is, too.
Windows Central noticed that Microsoft revealed new versions of both of these apps in testing, with Notepad getting some additional formatting powers, as well as a new ‘welcome experience’ and an extra dash of AI.
On the formatting front, Notepad is getting nested lists – indented subcategories within lists – and a strikethrough capability (drawing a line through text, meaning crossing something out).
The new welcome experience is a panel that pops up detailing the latest changes in Notepad, so you know what’s been recently added (or tacked on since you last launched the app).
And finally, the AI change in Notepad is for the Write, Rewrite, and Summarize features, which will now start a preview of the response the AI is providing in a faster manner. In short, you’ll be able to begin reading the AI’s output more quickly.
As for Windows 11’s Paint app, the main change here is the new coloring book, which is again an AI feature, one that allows you to create one such book based on a theme.
So, if you want to create a coloring book about, say, flying space whales zooming through the solar system (why not?), you can ask the AI to knock one up, and it’ll create the various pages.
Analysis: for me, this goes beyond ‘bloat vs functionality’ and into ‘development vs fundamentals’
As noted at the outset, the trio of changes for Notepad will likely either please you or infuriate you – unless maybe you never use Notepad and don’t care. At any rate, those concerned about the basic text editor becoming bloated – and indeed much less basic, with a whole raft of features added in recent times – are not going to be happy with a pop-up release notes panel, or further formatting and AI nuances.
The worry is that eventually, Notepad is going to end up far away from being the streamlined text editor that was the original concept, and it’ll load more slowly and be less responsive in general thanks to all these extra trimmings.
Part of this is Microsoft compensating for the lack of WordPad in Windows 11, which was the middle-ground app between Notepad and the full version of Word before Microsoft ditched it from Windows 11. So, you can see where the software giant is coming from in that respect, although it begs the question: why drop WordPad in the first place?
Anyhow, the timing of this new version of Notepad is interesting because it arrives just as a frustrating bug in Windows 11 has meant that the app is crashing for a number of people. (This isn’t just about Notepad, mind you, but it is one of the affected pieces of software). The underlying issue appears to be a problem with the Microsoft store – or possibly other factors – but it’s clear enough it’s not actually the fault of Notepad.
Even so, the fact that Microsoft keeps creating more and more seriously annoying bugs – some minor, some major, like this week’s app-crashing antics – points again to the issue of Windows 11 fundamentals versus development of the OS.
Which is to say, people want Microsoft to fix the basics with Windows 11, curing all the bugs, oddities and sluggishness with the interface, and generally getting its operating system in good working order beneath the hood – which should (hopefully) mean fewer bugs popping up in the desktop OS. I don’t see how it wouldn’t. And on top of that, Microsoft also needs to improve its quality assurance (QA) processes around updates to double down on stamping out gremlins in the works.
Most people want this to happen over and above prioritizing new features coming to Windows 11 and its default apps like Notepad. Now, I realize Microsoft is never going to effectively freeze development on its operating system, and I don’t think it needs to go that far anyway – but it’s clear enough that priorities need to be readjusted here. Stop worrying about jamming many more capabilities, and especially AI features, into Windows 11, and start probing the fundamentals more deeply, and fixing stuff.
I’d really like to see some acknowledgement from Microsoft that the state of Windows 11 right now isn’t good enough. Otherwise, the ‘Microslop’ nickname could stick fast, and there will be (further) reputational damage in terms of the public perception of the quality of Windows 11. Maybe irreparable damage, arguably.
Microsoft shouldn’t forget that the reputation of the OS is intimately linked to the success of its big drive with AI. People need to trust Microsoft’s AI agents to be let loose on their PC, and be comfortable granting them access to their personal files, and that won’t happen if Windows 11 is regarded as a malfunctioning desktop platform that’s limping along, hamstrung by subpar QA and testing, and suffering a constant stream of bugs.
To reiterate, I’m not saying Microsoft should totally rein in development of new features, or AI functionality – because clearly, that is never going to happen. But I’m going to continue to bang the well-beaten drum for the idea that there needs to be a better balance between those incoming new features and maintaining all the existing stuff – because what Microsoft is doing right now just isn’t working, not for me, and not for many others.
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