Microsoft says goodbye to this nearly 30-year-old Windows program

It’s always sad to say goodbye to old applications that we used to use over the decades. However, the march of progress must continue, even when some of our favorite programs get overstepped. After nearly 30 years of existence, Microsoft is discontinuing Windows Wordpad.

Maybe you used this program to write your first book, do early school reports, or spend hours as a teenager typing up scripts for sitcoms in your bedroom (I remember the good old days), Windows Wordpad has been there. It’s an extremely simple program by today’s standards thanks to Microsoft Word and similar programs. However, you can’t deny that it has a lot of sentimental value.

Well, Windows is finally discontinuing Wordpad

We knew that this day was coming, as Wordpad has been depreciated since September 2023. Now, if you are still using the program, you won’t log on to your computer to find it gone just yet. The program was removed in the preview build of Windows 11. So, you can still access it in the current stable version of Windows 11.

The preview version is version 26020 released on the Canary Channel. So, once that version makes it to the stable channel, you will no longer see Wordpad. Also, if you reinstall Windows 11, you won’t see the program. It’s definitely sad to see the program go even though not many people continue to use it.

Wordpad was first introduced back in 1995. Most of us used to ask kids back when we just needed a program to type down words and not much more. However, as adults, our needs are much more robust. Thus, we need programs with much more robust features, and capabilities. Wordpad just couldn’t keep up.

That’s not the only program going away

The Windows People app is also going away. However, its spirit will live on, unlike Wordpad’s. People was introduced with Windows 8, and it’s a digital address book. Folks used it to manage all of their contacts and addresses.

Well, all the functionality of the People app is being moved over to Outlook. So, you’ll be able to access all of the features natively from within Outlook. This eliminates the need to have a separate app.

There are other minor changes coming with the latest version of Windows 11, the company wrote an extended blog post about the changes.