Microsoft: Windows 24H2 Will Remove Cortana and WordPad Apps (bleepingcomputer.com) 102
Microsoft says the Cortana, Tips, and WordPad applications will be automatically removed on systems upgraded to the upcoming Windows 11 24H2 release. From a report: This was shared in a Thursday blog announcing that Windows 11, version 24H2 (Build 26100.712) is now available for Insiders in the Release Preview Channel. The company removed the Cortana standalone app from Windows 11 in preview build 25967 for Insiders, released in the Canary Channel in early October. It first announced that it would end support for Cortana in a support document published in June and deprecated it in another Canary build in August.
In September, Microsoft announced that it would deprecate WordPad -- automatically installed on Windows systems for 28 years, since 1995, and an optional Windows feature since the Windows 10 Insider Build 19551 release in February 2020 -- with a future Windows update. In November, the company also informed users that the Tips app was deprecated and would be removed in a future Windows release.
In September, Microsoft announced that it would deprecate WordPad -- automatically installed on Windows systems for 28 years, since 1995, and an optional Windows feature since the Windows 10 Insider Build 19551 release in February 2020 -- with a future Windows update. In November, the company also informed users that the Tips app was deprecated and would be removed in a future Windows release.
Hold on (Score:1, Funny)
Microsoft does what its users have been begging for years now? Where's the catch?
It's about time! (Score:1)
I really needed the storage taken up by Wordpad and its whopping 5MB of disk space.
Re: (Score:2)
when was the last time you actually used wordpad? hell even my pentium1 came with MS works preinstalled
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
They did finally fix that in notepad but it took literal decades.
Re: (Score:2)
I used it last year to embed GDI content into a document to confirm a rendering bug was a GDI (OS) problem and not an Office problem.
On older versions of Windows I used it to open unicode text since notepad wasn't clever enough, but we've fixed that.
Re: (Score:3)
I'm guessing there's a cost-benefit-analysis to compare the cost of maintaining programs and features that few customer's use, versus the potential outcry from the minority that do use them. I'm sure Microsoft sees this as a pretty safe move, though I'm sure there are also some die hard WordPad fans out there somewhere.
Re: (Score:3)
I could use Cortana to handle *nix files, it was also far less insidious than Word. If I still used Windows I'd miss WordPad.
Re: (Score:2)
wtf happened there?
I wrote "WordPad" and it was translated to "Cortana". I have never used Cortana in my life.
Re: (Score:2)
The reason there were so few users is Wordpad always sucked. From the day it was written it was useless, not being a good text editor and not being a good word processor. That has been a systematic problem with Microsoft's built-in tools from notepad, paint, calc and wordpad - virtually zero effort gone into improving them but at least the others had some marginal use even if they're awful.
Re: (Score:2)
>>That has been a systematic problem with Microsoft's built-in tools from notepad, paint, calc and wordpad - virtually zero effort gone into improving them but at least the others had some marginal use even if they're awful.
I'm pretty sure that's intentional. They give some basic level of functionality out-of-the-box and if you want or need better tools you will seek them out. Notepad is good enough for people who need to very occasionally edit a batch file, but if you are a programmer you will defi
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Notepad & Calc have belatedly implemented things that should have been there 20 years ago when it would have mattered. I can't recall the amount of times I needed Notepad to open a file and it fucked up line endings, or encodings or otherwise wasn't fit for purpose. And of course things like multiple levels of undo, tabs, encoding all eluded it until very recently. Calc has also been down the same road of minimal functionality for much of its life. Same for paint. I suspect they're only getting attentio
Re: (Score:2)
Re: Hold on (Score:5, Insightful)
The catch is copilot
Re:Hold on (Score:5, Informative)
Yeah, they're dumping Cortana, but they're bringing in Copilot. Dumping the bad for the worse.
Re: (Score:3)
Why would you not forget it? Do you have a specific Microsoft branded ARM powered laptop? If not, you're not getting recall. You can forget it until further notice. In the true tradition of "you can't fire me I quit!" You're explicitly not going to be getting the feature you don't want.
Re: (Score:2)
Don't forget Recall.
Don;t forget that Recall has very specific requirements which very few consumers will meet at the outset... but thanks for the reminder... I guess
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
They finally realized what crap Windows is and issued a recall to refurbish it?
Re: (Score:2)
Where's the catch?
The catch is they can delete whatever shit they want to off your system as and when they want to.
How Cortana really works (Score:3, Funny)
NEWS IN BRIEF
Local Man Declares Cortana 'Worse Than the Bastard Operator From Hell'
In a blistering critique that is long overdue, local man Larry "Livid" Johnson has declared Microsoft's virtual assistant, Cortana, to be "a fucking nightmare on par with the Bastard Operator From Hell."
"Cortana couldn't find its digital ass with both hands and a GPS," raged Johnson. "I asked it to set an alarm for 7 AM, and the clueless fucker woke me up at 3 AM, thinking it's a fucking rooster or something."
Johnson's complaints about Cortana, the digital assistant designed to simplify life, don't stop with sleep disturbance. The beleaguered user reported a horrifying incident in which Cortana managed to destroy his entire filesystem.
"I asked Cortana to clean up my desktop, and the fucker interpreted it as 'wipe out my entire filesystem'. All my files, gone! It's like fucking entrusting the Bastard Operator From Hell with your system," fumed Johnson, referring to the infamous tech support horror story.
Microsoft, the tech giant responsible for this digital shitshow, has yet to address the torrent of complaints, leaving users to wander the digital wilderness with a virtual assistant that's about as helpful as a chocolate fireguard.
"Cortana is like a fucking digital Bastard Operator From Hell," reiterated Johnson. "If you're relying on Cortana for anything, you're royally fucked. I'd rather have Clippy back at this point."
Until Microsoft gets its shit together and fixes this cock-up, users are left shouting into the void, praying that Cortana might, just once, do what the fuck it's supposed to. Or at the very least, refrain from committing digital genocide on their files.
But... but... but... (Score:2)
c'est la vie
Re: But... but... but... (Score:2)
Probably runs fine in Wine.
Re: But... but... but... (Score:3)
I'd think that Wordpad is simple enough to be able to run as a portable application. Whoever uses it can just backup the binary and copy it to some folder when it gets deleted. I'm even sure that it's simple enough to recreate the registry keys used to associate Wordpad with .doc files etc.
Is this legal? (Score:5, Interesting)
How can software companies, with an "update", remove features that someone paid for? Yes yes I know Wordpad sucks etc. etc. I am talking about the general principle. There might be someone out there, probably with a masochist kink, who uses Wordpad. With Cortana.
Re: (Score:3)
Don't know why this is modded down. Microsoft is doing this because they can. Yeah it's probably breaking some laws but it would take you a decade in court to fight and in the end you'll get a $5 MS credit and a decades worth of lawyer fees.
Re: (Score:2)
I know that companies really try to discourage people from actually reading adverts, contracts etc, but this is exactly why you should read your c
Re:Is this legal? (Score:4, Insightful)
In my opinion reading a contract for a licensing agreement is generally a waste of time. I know in theory you get to know what you are getting yourself into, however they are complicated enough that you need a lawyer to fully understand are you going to pay thousands to understand a contract for $100 piece of software. Even then no good lawyer is going to guarantee that their interpretation is the one that the court will agree with.
Do you have any bargaining power, no you aren't going to Microsoft an complain about a clause and the are going say sure we will alter it for you.
If you have a case and its in the contract, if Microsoft says no what is the likely hood that you will win against them in a court case before you go bankrupt? Sure there might be a class action, but the only ones that will make any real money from that are the lawyers.
Finally most of these contracts say they can change the terms and conditions, so what on earth have you agreed to? If apple changes their terms in conditions will they provide a refund for the phone and every app that you have purchased?
These are not real contracts when 2 relatively equal parties are entering into an agreement, there is very little point reading the contract, its little wonder that most people don't bother to read them.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Don't you have rules against unfair contracts? In the UK we have various requirements, like the contract needing to be fair and reasonably understandable to an average adult. We also have things like the "red hand rule" where any particularly egregious terms need to be highlighted or they can't be enforced.
Re: (Score:2)
How can software companies, with an "update", remove features that someone paid for?
It's sad that on a site like slashdot, it has to be pointed out that you didn't buy "the software", you paid for a license to use the software and to be provided updates to that software.
Your argument could be used to say that a user has some kind of standing to demand that software that you've paid for *not remove bugs* because you depend on that faulty line of code and you paid for it. And another customer demands that bug
Re: Is this legal? (Score:2)
A license to use the software assumes the software is there to be used. If the vendor has deleted it it's a breach of the license.
Re: (Score:2)
A license to use the software assumes the software is there to be used. If the vendor has deleted it it's a breach of the license.
No a license assumes nothing beyond the terms of the license. You are assuming something by not reading the license. Incidentally since the individual featured components are not called out in the license for Windows you can't assume that removing said component has in any way breached the license since (and this is true) you still have Windows on your computer even if Wordpad isn't there.
Re: (Score:2)
Courts have ruled, many times over, that ridiculous terms cannot be enforced even if you agreed to them. For example, if the terms of a contract say you must jump off a bridge or do something illegal, that's not legally enforceable. Do you think it would be legal for Ford to remove the cupholder from your car the next time they have a safety recall for some brake issue? I mean, when you take it for recall/update you're giving Ford the right to make modifications to your car. Removing a cupholder is a modifi
Re: (Score:2)
Okay, go prove to a court that a software vendor being allowed to change/add/remove what's included in their software updates is "ridiculous". Nobody gives a fuck. If Microsoft removed the entire operating system you licensed, or something significant such as the entire networking stack in an update they somehow forced you to take, you might have a case. But in the real world, arguing that removing Wordpad amounts to "changing the deal" is fucking laughable and only an obstinate dork would cry slippery slop
Re: (Score:2)
I think it would have been a good argument back in Win95, in that you could conceivably use only Wordpad and still engage in correspondence. You're not going to make any legal forms with it, but it's perfectly adequate for writing letters, school papers, or notices. That probably covers the vast majority of uses. A lot of PCs came with Works and an Office Trial or even just basic Office, but people just buying their OS for their clone weren't getting that.
Re: (Score:3)
It probably isn't legal somewhere, but in general not much is lost because you can easily get free replacements so it's difficult to argue substantial damages.
Re: (Score:2)
I remember when Sony removed Linux from the PS3, which caused a legal challenge as this feature was advertised. Microsoft may get away with it because it was not a popular app in the first place (although, for many years, Wordpad could read UNIX line terminations just fine, unlike notepad)
Re:Is this legal? (Score:4, Insightful)
How can software companies, with an "update", remove features that someone paid for?
Quite simply. In order to show that this move was in any way "illegal" - as far as the principles of civil law go since there's no specific law governing features which would make this criminal - you need to show directly with evidence that the reason you purchased something was specifically for the feature in question. Unfortunately given the free alternatives available to Wordpad, along with the fact that several features from Wordpad and Cortana have been rolled into Notepad / Copilot, you will effectively find it impossible to prove you were in any way negatively affected by the move in the eyes of the law.
Re: (Score:2)
So if, during a critical recall for a brakes issue, Ford also removes the the side mirrors from your car, that'll be legit?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
How about cupholder?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
No need for a cupholder in a vehicle? Found the AI bot..
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
No need for a cupholder in a vehicle? Found the AI bot..
Wait you drink and eat in your car? Found the animal.
That said I use my cupholder. I keep spare change in it for the parking machine.
Re: (Score:2)
No for multiple reasons.
a) they are legally required
b) they are actively used as part of the driving process and you should be able to build a case demonstrating that you would never have bought a car without a side mirror (ask me why I didn't buy a Polestar 4 and instead opted for the most expensive Polestar 2, if your answer was the lack of rearview mirror was a deal breaker than you're right).
c) when you bought a car you bought the car. The only part of said car which is covered under any kind of restric
Re: (Score:2)
you need to show directly with evidence that the reason you purchased something was specifically for the feature in question.
WTF? So Ford could remove the front bumper of every car and not get sued because you didn't buy the car for the bumper? Are you insane?
Wordpad does not suck (Score:1)
Honestly, itâ(TM)s powerful enough for most casual home use. Itâ(TM)s a shame that theyâ(TM)re taking it away and forcing you to buy the kitchen sink (Word) or select an open source alternative.
Re: (Score:2)
we all kid but you have a great point, how many of us use MS paint still, even if its just to use it as a crude whiteboard or resize an image before emailing it
I do every fuckin day!
Yes I know they have different programs that do that, but I have been using paint since windows 3.11 and the pictures UI is about completely useless other than viewing a picture. I used to know how do do a whiteboard in teams but usually by the point im in a meeting and just want to scribble a concept so other people understand
Re: Is this legal? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Sadly Microsoft Windows is no longer a general purpose operating system on which you install and run the programs *YOU* want to use.
The morons running MS these days have decided that everyone uses their PC for exactly the same things: all based around social networking, "chat", games and other associated crap. So now they force install utter shit I have no interest in, keep fucking about with configuration (arbitrarily overwriting my carefully crafted preferences), removing things, pointlessly meddling wit
Re: (Score:2)
I am assuming that you can simply create a backup of C:\Program Files\Windows NT\Accessories before upgrading your Windows 11 OS, then restore that directory after upgrade.
This is what I am planning on doing for our org anyway.
We still use WordPad to open RTF documents on computers without Word installed.
Re: (Score:2)
How can software companies, with an "update", remove features that someone paid for?
When the Rule of Law is not respected by all parties, whether victim, aggressor, or the government, this is the result.
Good bye COrtana, hello COpilot (Score:2)
Same 5h!7, different day.
RTF documents on Windows OoTB? (Score:3)
While is not as important as it used to be, being able to open and edit RTF documents out of the box on an OS is an important feature...
I hope they add the capability to Notepad in the not to distant future...
Re: (Score:2)
Notepad is for plain text files. The only binary formatting it adds are those stray 0xd characters.
Wordstar could do both text and (its propiertary) RTF
TextEdit on mac can do both text and RTF.
why notepad couldn't?
Re: (Score:2)
Notepad is for plain text files. The only binary formatting it adds are those stray 0xd characters.
Wordstar could do both text and (its propiertary) RTF TextEdit on mac can do both text and RTF.
why notepad couldn't?
Actually it is quite crucial that Notepad can't and won't! It is for me (and I'm sure for bunch of other people) The Quintessential Plaintexter, i.e. the main tool to get rid of special characters and random formatting.
I use it as such every day at work. Copy that HTML-email or Word-document snippet to notepad, and then copy the formatting free plain text to whereever you need it.
Re: (Score:2)
That would rather defeat the two points of NotePad - one of which is to be a text editor, and the other being a demonstration programme for the Windows SDK. (OK, it's .. 30 years? since I looked at the Windows SDK, but why would they change the basics?)
Re: (Score:2)
That would rather defeat the two points of NotePad - one of which is to be a text editor, and the other being a demonstration programme for the Windows SDK. (OK, it's .. 30 years? since I looked at the Windows SDK, but why would they change the basics?)
TextEdit on mac handles both text and RTF no problem. The problem with wordpad was the WYSIWYG editing + Limited word (and Works) format compatibility.
RTF was/is no biggie.
Re: RTF documents on Windows OoTB? (Score:2)
If you think RTF is "no biggie" I suggest you go read its 70 page spec then try and implement it. Get back to us when you're done in a few years.
Re: (Score:2)
I can't remember a client actually asking for something in RTF. Ever.
If a tree falls, heard in an empty forest, does it matter how thick "Forestry_Personnel_Hearing_Protection_policy.RTF" is?
Re: (Score:2)
Last time I updated the licence in the installer for our product. The Windows Installer API still supports RTF, and I'm not aware that it supports HTML. See the references to RICHEDIT in MSDN [microsoft.com].
Re: (Score:2)
Hmmm, I'd better check if LO.org can still read and write RTFs. Well, it purports to save the file (just my regular 3-languages, hundreds of tables and sections notes file) int
Re: (Score:2)
I don't know what you're basing the expectation of signed PDF on, but I'm pretty sure that the average end user isn't going to have Orca installed, and certainly isn't going to think that extracting the licence from an MSI, editing it, injecting the edited version, and installing with the edited version is somehow magically going to give them an improved legal position with respect to the software vendor. For all the flaws exposed by shrink-wrap licences and contracts of adhesion, contract law is still nomi
Re: (Score:2)
Of course editing your PDF doe
Re: (Score:2)
I already answered that question in my first reply: the last time I updated the licence in the installer for our product, because that's the format supported by the Windows Installer API. And FWIW Orca is an MSI decompiler / editor.
Re: (Score:2)
For that sort of mildly-interactive, very limited choice, situation you'd need a little formatting (emphasis, maybe colour (BUT, screen readers?), several levels of heading, and this would be a difficult one : links within the sandbox of the installer. But you'd want to exclude links outside the installation program/ medium ... and would that be why they don'
Re: (Score:2)
I'd be more impressed if they supported .ODF documents.
The Real Reason. . . (Score:4, Interesting)
The real! Reason they are removing WordPad is that they found out elementary schools were using it for students instead of them all getting nice, new, shiny O365 Subscriptions!
Re: (Score:2)
I guess elementary schools will have to use LibreOffice instead, then.
Re: (Score:2)
I guess elementary schools will have to use LibreOffice instead, then.
But will they?
Re: (Score:2)
The real! Reason they are removing WordPad is that they found out elementary schools were using it for students instead of them all getting nice, new, shiny O365 Subscriptions!
PErhaps, but AFAIR , wordpad did not have spell correction, very usefull in elemntary school.
Re: (Score:2)
The real! Reason they are removing WordPad is that they found out elementary schools were using it for students instead of them all getting nice, new, shiny O365 Subscriptions!
PErhaps, but AFAIR , wordpad did not have spell correction, very usefull in elemntary school.
Good point!
Re: (Score:2)
LOL [Citation needed]. Sounds like a fun citation but I do fear that you may in fact be talking out of your arse.
Re: (Score:2)
LOL [Citation needed]. Sounds like a fun citation but I do fear that you may in fact be talking out of your arse.
Maybe; but it is in the realm of possibility.
They have a group of people called "Canaries"? (Score:2)
Really? The "Convict Army Nearly All Retarded Inbred Evil Sheepshaggers"
I bet that few in the upper echelons of MS have even heard of Red Dwarf [fandom.com]. But that's their loss. But the (small) number of Dwarvians in ... is it "Redmond"? wherever ... will piss themselves laughing every time they hear about it.
If you like your WordPad ... (Score:2)
you can keep your Wordpad.
OK, Lucy.
And nothing of value was ... (Score:1)
Microsoft says the Cortana, Tips,
And nothing of value was lost.
and WordPad
Well, almost nothing.
Great, now remove the rest of the crap. (Score:2)
Features (Score:3)
Remember when Microsoft used to ADD features to their software with updates, rather than feature the removal of crap nobody wanted to begin with?
Pretty soon we'll have to pay more money to NOT install things. No thanks, I'll just not install any of their garbage, and then I won't have to pay anything to them at all.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
And yet, literally every other web site in existence that allows stored user text input has figured it out without it being a "security concern."
I'd put a thinking emoji here, except that unicode isn't allowed.
Microsoft! (Score:2)
Microsoft knows what is best for you! How dare you think otherwise! Kneel before Zod!
Re: (Score:2)
i never had much luck with Clippy and didn't use Cortana... but as far as names go, Cortana is a heck of a lot cooler than co-pilot. They should've at least kept the name (and link to Halo) imo.
Bah (Score:1)
Malignant disrespect for the user (Score:2)
Cortana - I have it turned off entirely. It won't be missed - won't even be noticed.
Putting up CoPilot in its place - predictable, and disrespectful to users. I am not clever enough to figure out how to silence it, but others will, and I know that users will soon post all kinds of fixes that allow you to get rid of it. So, I am not worried about it.
WordPad - I have a need to use it, for one reason or another, maybe once a year or every other year. It's one of those things - sometimes its just the right
Context menu ramifications (Score:1)
Wordpad can open .docx files (Score:1)
ALSO (Score:2)
In much bigger news, Win11 24H2 will deprecate-and-not-install-by-default VBscript.
This one is going to be a much bigger deal than Wordpad for Enterprise customers. You can still install it as a Feature on Demand.
https://techcommunity.microsof... [microsoft.com]
Re: (Score:2)
According to the link you posted:
In the first phase, VBScript FODs will be pre-installed in all Windows 11, version 24H2 and on by default.