Thanks for the fun we had, WordPad

Microsoft has already dropped the axe in its native word processor in Windows 11 26040 Canary, after 28 years since its inception.

^{A screenshot of Microsoft WordPad running on Windows 10.}

After almost three decades, technology giant Microsoft has slashed WordPad off from the list of shipping features in its new operating systems.

Just in case you haven’t heard of WordPad (it’s probably not worth wallowing for you though), it is a word processor software that was included in Microsoft Windows releases—way back in Windows 95—which enabled users to edit documents with rich text, a subset of its paid counterpart’s capabilities.

It sat as a somehow redundant middle ground between the minimal Notepad and the feature-packed Word all through these years, with its almost non-existent relevance gradually diminishing as Notepad and its equivalents close in through that space with more and better features.

As a no-fuss student writer, WordPad has been my mainstay for a decade—setting aside all those context however, I’m not here to write about my approval or dismay regarding Microsoft’s decision but I would rather reminisce about my moments with this trusty software.

I recall my first encounters with this ‘relic’ as I was just scrolling through that classic, glassy Windows 7 start menu—it was way back in 2013, just a year after the disastrous release of Windows 8 which I despised with all my heart, and I was five years old at that time.

I never felt so ecstatic that time as I clicked on that “Windows Accessories” folder, which I stumbled upon about sixteen programs, some of which I have already used like Calculator, Paint, and File Explorer—I inevitably clicked on WordPad out of curiosity.

“What the heck is this?” I said so bluntly as the app interface showed in front of my face, since then, I was left wondering about Microsoft’s rationale to include such software until I lost my Office license when I was twelve years old.

To be fair with the ‘stagnant’ software, I loved using it for every occasion that I find it necessary for—it was my no-fuss, uncluttered word processor for the peace of my mind, and I also found it snappier than my Microsoft Office Suite—which was a bit of a RAM hog and an overwhelming software to encounter for a kid.

During one of my online classes when I was 12, I had to pass a paper due in ten minutes, I can’t open Microsoft Office at all and I don’t like using Google Docs—there came WordPad, a familiar, hassle-free experience that got my paper passed within the last minute. That wasn’t the last time that happened.

It’s 2024 now, I’m already turning 16 years old and still sticking to a software that is twice my age— it’s still amazing (this article was drafted in WordPad lmao), the experience never changed which have inevitably caused its long-delayed demise.