Haven't looked at Notepad in ages since I use one of the far better alternatives. If it's just an interface switch... I don't get it. The Ribbon Bar does nothing for me, if you wanted to change font sizes wouldn't you be using Wordpad?? The last thing I want is worry that I accidentally introduce formatting into what is supposed to be a plain-text configuration file I'm editing.
Btw the article's conclusion makes me scoff. Complicated alternatives? What? Most text editor alternatives are pretty easy to get into, and many of them are good at not overwhelming you with ginormous menus. Sure, there are a few feature-bloated ones, but there are many just as popular ones that aren't.
I use MS Office 2010; I don't mind the Ribbon Bar there, I got used to the switch and find them pretty handy in most of the office apps. But putting it in Notepad doesn't make sense to me.
Edit:
A hotkey to toggle Notepad's background transparent/opaque would be awesome; that would really help when copy pasting and comparing stuff in other windows.