After 28 years of service, Windows without the WordPad program is becoming a reality

After last year's announcement, Microsoft released Windows without the WordPad program, that is, a version of the operating system on the Canary channel intended for previewing changes to the platform before it officially goes to all users. This means that this word processor is retiring after 28 long years, after debuting in the Windows 95 era.

Microsoft has described WordPad as a “deprecated feature,” indicating that it is no longer in development and that the software giant will no longer include it in future versions of Windows 11. Although the new Windows 11 Canary build is only available for download for those in the Windows Insider program, it reflects the coming changes directed towards the masses.

„Starting with this version, WordPad and People apps will no longer be installed after a clean install of the operating system. In the following period, WordPad will be removed. WordPad will no longer be able to be reinstalled. WordPad is a deprecated Windows feature“, claims Microsoft.

Years ago, WordPad was a free word processor that came with your operating system, dating back to the Windows 95 version. However, Microsoft now recommends Word for working with documents with so-called rich text content such as the .doc and .rtf standards, while Notepad is recommended for plain text documents such as .txt.

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Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26020 is also set to remove the Cortana assistant, which is an expected move given that the company is promoting the Copilot assistant based on modern artificial intelligence.

Is there room for reversal or is Windows without WordPad still the final scenario?

Five years ago, Microsoft planned to remove the Paint program with the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update as the first version of the operating system without it. However, the giant caved in to public pressure and heavy requests to keep the program, making this drawing program an option that can still be installed through the Microsoft Store app.

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Not only that, MS Paint is also on the Windows 11 version with additional improvements and redesign. Accordingly, if users continue to love and use WordPad, and repeat their requests to keep the program, Microsoft could repeat the scenario as in the Paint case.

The most convenient solution would probably be to simply make WordPad available for installation through the store. Although there are many alternatives, WordPad came as the default program and had many more word processing features than Notepad.

However, considering that several months have passed since the first announcement, and that the requests to keep the program did not stand out in the public, it will be that this time “grandfather burned Đenka”.