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Windows Microsoft

Microsoft Employee Accidentally Announces That Notepad is Getting Tabs in Windows 11 (theverge.com) 73

Posted by EditorDavid from the windows-in-Windows dept.
"A Microsoft employee appears to have accidentally announced that Windows 11's Notepad app is getting a tabs feature," reports the Verge: The employee, a senior product manager at Microsoft, posted a photo of a version of Notepad with tabs, enthusiastically announcing "Notepad in Windows 11 now has tabs!" with a loudspeaker emoji.

The tweet was deleted minutes later, but not before Windows Central and several Windows enthusiast Twitter accounts had spotted the mistake. The Notepad screenshot includes a Microsoft internal warning: "Confidential Don't discuss features or take screenshots...."

The addition of tabs in Notepad could signal a shift towards tabs appearing in more built-in Windows apps.
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Microsoft Employee Accidentally Announces That Notepad is Getting Tabs in Windows 11 More

Microsoft Employee Accidentally Announces That Notepad is Getting Tabs in Windows 11

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  • Notepad++ is my go to text editor, it came out years ago and doesn't force me into the windows store (but I bet the windows store will force free programs into paying fees eventually)

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      That's a bit of a weird comment. "Notepad doesn't need tabs because I prefer to use a text editor that has tabs".

      What?

      Fact is, sometimes things become outdated, Notepad has been supplanted by things like Notepad++ and VSCode precisely because they support things like tabbed documents and so are a bit more useful. The update to Paint was a good example, the fact is it just reached a point where nostalgia was no longer sufficient to keep it as it was - it had simply become pointless.

      There's plenty to criticis

      • I love the simplicity of notepad. Adding tabs diminishes that. If I want notepad with tabs, I use notepadpp. I dont use notepadpp much since often notepad is enough and i like its simplicity. (Notepadpp is caught between notepad and vs code.)

        I often use the analogue of a bicycle. If all I want is a bicycle, why do I need something with a touchscreen console or a buffet car?

        • You have a low UID, so let me ask you. Did you ever use NoteTab? I've been using it frequently for 20-25 years. I never paid for it, and to this day, it doesn't nag you. Granted, I'm still on Win7, but you get my drift.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Saffaya ( 702234 )

            Interested by your comment, I have checked out their website.
            Unfortunately for me:
            "NoteTab only offers syntax highlighting for HTML, XML, and CSS files. If you need syntax highlighting for JavaScript, PHP, C++ or other programming languages, then NoteTab is not for you"

            I could use syntax highlighting/formatting for pseudo-code. Any suggestions?

        • I love the simplicity of notepad. Adding tabs diminishes that

          So umm don't use them...?

      • I don't think it became outdated. There was a massive push toward devices that are "consumption only" with touch screens where apps are typically run full screen. Many of the gui changes in the past 10-12 years are geared toward exactly those devices. Even the fucking start menu of windows in everything from Windows 8 onward is a pain in the ass. The pinned apps do different things which is stupid as fuck. If I click the old quick launch icons, it opens the app. It ALWAYS opens the app. I can open as many i

      • The basic, fundamental requirement of Notepad is that it loads super quickly. New features are fine, so long as they don't bloat the start time. That's why things like syntax highlighting should never be part of notepad, imho.

        Tabs? Well there are arguments for and against. I guess that so long as you can still have two windows side by side then supporting tabs as well doesn't necessarily detract. ...so long as load times are not impacted.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by marcle ( 1575627 )

      Me too, Notepad++ is the way to go.
      I'm sure MS could come up with a high quality text editor if they wanted to, they certainly have tons of well-paid talent. Must be something about the management...

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Z00L00K ( 682162 )

        I do vim instead.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by ls671 ( 1122017 )

        Me too, Notepad++ is the way to go.
        I'm sure MS could come up with a high quality text editor if they wanted to, ...

        Considering that adding tabs to notepad seems to MS as a big breakthrough industrial secret that needs to be protected by warnings to their employees, I ain't so sure as you are about that :)

      • The management is out to make money and destroy windows

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        No business case for it. Where is the profit?

      • I'm sure MS could come up with a high quality text editor if they wanted to

        Well they refreshed WordPad for basic word processing, they have VSCode for code editing and there is MS Word WebApp on the "high end" of the free options.

    • Metapad is also very nice. Super simple, only a single .exe (no other files), drop it anywhere and it runs. Really nice for a rescue stick.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Bob_Who ( 926234 )
      Indeed. Why do Tabs if there is Fresca?
  • Notepad does not need tabs. If you want that complexity use wordpad or some other program. Personally I prefer vim.

  • This is VERY important news and I'm so grateful (Score:4, Funny)

    by couchslug ( 175151 ) on Sunday December 25, 2022 @04:47PM (#63157166)

    to the editors for informing Slashdot readers of this proactive user-centric forward-looking sea-change in THE text editor all professional coders rely on.

    • It's a Festivus miracle!

    • I think the real story is that a senior Microsoft employee broke an NDA to brag on Twitter about something trivial, ignoring warnings in the very screenshot being posted not to share the news, and then hastily backtracked.

    • It's interesting from a historical perspective, as this software is nearly 4 decades old (39 years to be specific) and has mostly been unchanged all that time (besides being updated with the fundamental Windows UI changes such as window / menu styles and the like). It is still used, and is phenomenally prolific when you consider the amount of computers it has been available on over those 40 years.

      Even us software developer types use it in a pinch when working with computers that are not our own, as it is si

  • And intruduced some wonderful bugs.

    • We were getting tired of the old bugs by now though.

    • They had already rewritten it. And they managed to break text selection and keyboard navigation in menus; and the title bar is displayed with a black font, which makes the title unreadable over dark colors. We're talking Windows 2.0-era features.

      I think we're starting to see the results of AI applied to software development.

  • They also need to fix it so you get more than 1 undo. That alone makes notepad pretty worthless for any real task.

  • Who cares. Seriously. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by gweihir ( 88907 ) on Sunday December 25, 2022 @05:14PM (#63157218)

    Nobody really working with a text editor is using notepad.

    • Re: Who cares. Seriously. (Score:4, Interesting)

      by John Allsup ( 987 ) <(slashdot) (at) (chalisque.net)> on Sunday December 25, 2022 @06:12PM (#63157282) Homepage Journal

      I use vs code and vim as my main text editors. But for a super simple app that loads instantly and into which I can paste-edit-copy, notepad can't be beat. If all you need for a task is notepad, everthing else feels overcomplicated.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward
        edlin

    • When you RDP into a server that is not connected to the internet and has only built-in programs available, any improvement to using Notepad is welcome.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by gweihir ( 88907 )

        Well yes. In a dysfunctional environment (I am not mocking you or anything, I have seen systems on this level of dysfunctionality in critical roles in a fortune 100 company; was Solaris though), this may actually be an improvement. That this is an improvement is pretty sad though.

    • you don't understand. First they will add tabs to their notepad, then to minesweeper, then to the kernel and then they will rename Windows to Tabs. This is genius!

    • Right. It's the base, simple tool to use as a buffer, like a sheet of paper.
      So making it more complex takes away that base function and now you're using a more complex tool as your basic placeholder.
      Brilliant.

      Notepad is a really, really basic editor. It fills that niche. If they make it more complex, someone else will have to write something that fills that niche, except it won't come with the computer and you won't be able to assume it's there when helping people.

      This will make walking people through th

    • Nobody really working with a text editor is using notepad.

      People actually working use notepad all the time, because people working are required to user servers which do not have custom software installed and yet none the less need to edit text based files.

      Now people playing on their computers, they don't use Notepad.

  • Imagine not using notepad++ in the year 2022 (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Rujiel ( 1632063 ) on Sunday December 25, 2022 @06:31PM (#63157324)
    Ouch, that must be rough
  • Shit happens. I'll take human error over corporate perfectionist marketing any day. The best thing Microsoft can do is to forgive him this mulligan and let him tee off into the new year knowing that he's a better man if he can learn from his mistakes. Onward and upward. A good dose of humility is good for the pub.

    Of course, if he does it again, send him to Infinite Loop, Cupertino.

  • Who cares (Score:3)

    by mustafap ( 452510 ) on Sunday December 25, 2022 @07:48PM (#63157436) Homepage

    Notepad++ is the default Windows text editor. They should just give up and pay the person writing it.

    Paint still has the same resizing issues from a decade ago, and hyperterm is still a joke. I've been suffering with microsoft since 1986, and their basic apps still suck. I'd love to understand their thinking on this.

    • There is no real incentive to update the built in apps. Anyone that cares just immediately installs their third party apps of choice, and the average user never uses them so there is no point in wasting the dev time.
    • "I've been suffering with microsoft since 1986, and their basic apps still suck. I'd love to understand their thinking on this." - Make the apps as simplistic and crappy as you can at first. Later down the road when you need a "win" you can roll out a new shiny "updated and enhanced" app to show how things are "improving". Since Windows 8 M$ has needed all the "wins" they can get. Good thing they have plenty of shitty apps to "update and enhance".

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Saffaya ( 702234 )

        Why should they care since they have de facto monopoly on the PC OS market? (unfortunately)

    • They should just give up and pay the person writing it.

      Nothing hits the stupid button like someone promoting less choice, more concentration of power, and also getting modded insightful for it.

      I agree Notepad++ is great (and also my default), but would never say something as stupid as a competitor should just give up adopt it.

    • I've been suffering with microsoft since 1986, and their basic apps still suck. I'd love to understand their thinking on this.

      I think their thinking on this is straightforward. They can produce garbage and people will still buy hardware with their garbage continuously for almost four decades and counting. I don't think Microsoft cares if they're the laughingstock of the tech industry because they're still laughing themselves all the way to the bank.

  • Notepad needs to auto-recover all the text that you had typed into Notepad windows before Windows decided to either crash or automatically reboot to install updates.

    • No. I see what you're aiming at there, but that should be an external tool/dir. "Old notepad stuff" could be a pile of files somewhere.

      Keep the notepad tool simple. Honestly there's nothing worse that quitting a program, and then when you come back, you get a "Do you want to resume your project?" popup like in Audacity or Krita.

      The saving function is needed, yes. But that should be just some files in a dir, not a conversation at start.

  • Simple, Lightweight, Open Source, Code Highlighting.
    Not even Close

  • Does it have a vim mode? Let me know when it does and then I'll look at it.

  • Thinking hard (Score:3)

    by Gabest ( 852807 ) on Monday December 26, 2022 @07:27AM (#63158194)

    If I ever needed two notepads at the same time. When I did, it was probably because to compare text, which is not possible with tabs.

    • One for some text you needed for a meeting ("that EULA wording on www.xyz.com we need to talk over before agreeing to it", for example) and another for any notes you might want to jot for the meeting, as the topics drift.

      I have two open now and then.

  • Tabs in applications are an admission that the taskbar's window management is horribly, horribly broken.

    It's more of an advertising bar than a TASK bar these days.

  • But in all seriousness, why is this a feature of an application? If I wanted to group running instances together, it should be something the desktop environment supports.

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