2013 – 2023retired
Google Glass
“It saw everything, including why we weren't ready.”
“Good enough for every letter you almost meant to format properly.”
WordPad was Microsoft's humble middle child of word processing, shipped with Windows from Windows 95 all the way through Windows 11. It sat comfortably between Notepad and Microsoft Word, offering rich text editing without the fuss, and for millions of users it was the first place they ever typed anything that had bold in it.
Microsoft removed WordPad starting with Windows 11 24H2, pointing people toward Word for DOCX and RTF files and Notepad for plain text. Its very last home is Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2021, quietly humming away in ATMs and medical equipment controllers until support ends January 13, 2032, when WordPad finally rests for good.
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“It saw everything, including why we weren't ready.”
“It showed us a better version of the page, then became the version that went away.”
“Dynamic Island now has an isle of its own.”