Wordpad - what's the point, what's the use?

[lonwinters]

I've read about 10 posts on Wordpad. Various questions, various answers. Sometimes I do get carried away with things that aren't that important in the grand scheme of things, and this is one of those times. But I do like discussing rationale and hypotheticals as well as actually wondering if I'm missing something that might really be important. I also like to play the speculation game - what were they thinking? (This game works good with Google - it's almost if they are sitting back laughing at us, that we go along with it. Either than, or they just can't see the forest for the trees).

I rarely use WP. But my main puter is down, wlll be just for a couple days. Not worth installing Office on this old one.

I copied a paragraph of text from the web containing a hyperlink. Can't edit the "link" or format the text. Only delete. I know what I can to to fix this, all the workarounds but this post is more about rationale.

Somewhere at MS HQ, there's a small cluster of cubicles with few programmers who, among other things, write the code for Wordpad. Were there meetings to discuss how WP should function as part of Win 7? Obviously they needed something as part of the OS more than Notepad but could't give away Word.
And it does that - creates a RTF file, ability for some formatting. But look at the other stuff - Paste Special, Insert Object - it's just a bunch of menu items with nothing hooked up. Or so it seems.

Any other programs like this in Win 8? Do they both use the same Live Essentials? if so, that's too bad - the photo gallery and movie maker are great in concept, but just - I don't know, there's gotta be a way to make these apps easy to use but more - better - overall. Thanks.

 

[Layback Bear]

I think you and I plus many others just don't use Wordpad.
I use a 3rd party program Jarte. It's free or Pro paid for.

Download the Jarte Word Processor

I'm thinking Microsoft doesn't want Wordpad to be to good and then compete with Microsoft Word.

I gave up a long time ago trying to get Wordpad to be usable to some degree.
Maybe I'm just dumb and the rest of the computing world uses Wordpad and isn't sharing all the tricks.

 

[lonwinters]

With such a nice graphic in your sig, I know you ain't dumb!

Interesting point about the competition with Word. IIRC, there was a time when Word was included with Windows, but maybe it was only with certain OEM installations.

But taking that speculation a step further, I do remember that I did get a new computer, most likely a Dell, that came with Word, and that in and of itself qualified me for the upgrade version to the full Office suite. And that was just about the time they introduced online activation in addition to the product key, and they were still working out the bugs with that.

I think Office should be free, or much cheaper at least for home consumer use and the businesses should have to purchase it. Not that I am I favor of heaping more expense on business, especially small business, they are using the products for profit. Another theory is that MS was simply trying to keep up with Mac, who incuded a basic word processor. It was bare bones, and the last version I ever used didn't support HTML, only RTF.

The implantation of WP is almost comical. Insert Object - PDF. I haven't tried it, but I can't see that even working. Still it's there, but no spell check.

Oh, and I forgot about Journal that comes with live essentials. It's really made for Win 8 with touchscreen. But all text has to go in text boxes and you can't even line up the text to lined background stationery. Another half-baked app. And I'm not a MS basher - just too many disappointments over the years = and we're coming up on the 20 year anniversary of Win 95! MS has proven they can get it right when they want to, so there's no excuse to still have thesecontinuing issues.

 

[damien76]

Have from time to time use Jarte and then moved-on to PolyEditLite. I use them when I am lazy enough to run MSWord and just wanna type some scratch work prior doing it in Word.

 

[LMiller7]

Microsoft Word has never been included with Windows but some OEMs have done so.

Wordpad is included with Windows in it's present form because it meets the needs of a large segment of users. Many users need something more than notepad but do not need a large and complex program like word. It is as simple as that.

There is a legal issue here as well. Microsoft could include with Windows a first rate office suite and many other applications that would rival the best commercial products available. But that would leave many commercial products without a market and Microsoft would be seen as having an unfair commercial advantage. This is not some hypothetical situation but one that is very real, one that has cost Microsoft a great deal of time and money in legal battles. That is why Microsoft was forced to create a special N version of Windows for sale in the European Union that did not include Media Player and similar programs.

 

[Layback Bear]

I believe you are correct LMiller7.

The E.U. would have Microsoft in court for year for giving their customers to much value when they bought one of their operating systems. I'm as sure as one can be the E.U. is trying to figure out a way to stop Microsoft from have their system come with security programs like a firewall.

 

[Berton]

My first version of Windows was 3.1 running on MS-DOS 5.0 back in '92 and it had Write, later renamed to WordPad in Windows 95. My computer came with WP [accepted acronym for WordPerfect] for Windows which I've kept a version installed since. WordPad is quite acceptable for 'mundane' uses that don't require the bells and whistles of Word or Word's cost. WordPad saves as the .doc format by default [or use the .rtf format] which can be opened on other word processors. The file write.exe still exists in the Windows Folder in WinVista, Win7 and Win8 and will open WordPad. However, putting that in the Search or Run box will open either OpenOffice Writer or LibreOffice Writer if also installed.

 

[LMiller7]

There are many people who never use wordpad and consider it a complete waste of disk space. But there are also millions who use it regularly and would be lost without it. Of course there will be disagreements about what features wordpad should have and which should have been left out. Considering the huge user base of Windows such disagreements are inevitable.

Designing an operating system or application means making many decisions. Often they are difficult, sometimes very difficult. Sometimes no matter what decision is made somebody will say it was a stupid one.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Yeah, 4.7MB is a huge waste of disk space. I don't know how anyone can deal with such a space hog.

All seriousness aside, I can't see why people get so excited about such a featherweight app. Don't like it? Don't use it. I use Wordpad occasionally for temporary notes I want to be able to pull up from the taskbar. Some people use it for installing scripts onto an OS (the reason I suspect that M$ keeps it). It's also handy for stripping formatting from small pieces of text (although CTRL/SHFT/V also works well for that when pasting).

 

[Layback Bear]

When you spell as poorly as I do, well enough said.

 

[Berton]

Wordpad.exe on my Win7 64-bit is about 4.4MB, not KB. The write.exe file is 10KB but only calls wordpad.exe.

 

[ThrashZone]

Compare Notepad to Wordpad and you'll see allot more options,
As far as website formatting Notepad will strip any of that out,

But there are allot of freebie's out there Google doc's for one that does quite a bit that would be my second choice if I didn't already have Office installed,
Cheers.

 

[Berton]

Compare Notepad to Wordpad and you'll see allot more options, As far as website formatting Notepad will strip any of that out

Yep, Notepad is what some call a pure text editor, has no hidden formatting. Writing Web pages in Notepad used to be popular once HTML was learned then good graphical programs came about which made it much easier. Always liked FrontPage [part of Microsoft Office] until I had to move on for the needs of the company hosting my Domain, now use Microsoft Expression Web and there's a number of others.

Having WordPad on the computer gets the new user learning and doing right away, finding out there may be more features they could use. In that light it's a plus for both the consumer and Microsoft.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Wordpad.exe on my Win7 64-bit is about 4.4MB, not KB. The write.exe file is 10KB but only calls wordpad.exe.

Cranial flatulence strikes again. Of course it's MB, not KB. It's still pretty light.

 

[lonwinters]

Same here, I may start out in Notepad, but usually want some formatting before too long. Notepad++ is a nice text editor if you ever need more than what Notepad does. I use it for quick HTML edits or other source code-type files, like INI. It has line numbers which helps a lot.

Couple years ago, my work laid off a bunch of people, not many of us left to do the work. I hear my boss yelling, loud and angry. Went into his office, he was on the verge of a stroke. Turns out he had to write a proposal himself, and was using Word. I explained that this was his baptism, we've all been through it whilei getting to a point to where we finally learned Word well enough to do something with it. Anyone who sat down with it without any training all went through some level of that frustration. Mine was something like inserting clip art and formatting to wrap the text. Then I just wanted to move it down maybe just one line - and it ended up either three pages before or after the page I put it on. And this was working as designed.

 

[Berton]

I just tell folks that don't have/can't afford Microsoft Office to use the built-in Wordpad, it's a 'lite' version of Word and usually can work with .doc files. Microsoft Works was the worst for compatibility which led to upgrading to Works Suite which had Word replacing the word processor portion. LibreOffice does quite well handling a number of Office documents but as is the usual caveat, nothing totally beats the original. Personally, I haven't found a reason to switch totally to Word, got started with WordPerfect and it still does what I need, some things are just plain easier to do.

 

[dgrrr]

I keep a log file as I work on residential computers, and Wordpad is the best since it loads as fast as notepad, but also allows formatting & even bmps if needed.

 

[RoWin7]

An old thread, but deserves a few replies for future users. It's an underrated program. Most users don't know they have it and spend hundreds on Office just to write letters, when Wordpad would do just fine.