Windows 11 Notepad to support Markdown

Windows just gave Notepad a glow-up: light formatting like Markdown (think tidy lists and strikethrough), a cheery welcome screen, and faster AI tools for Write/Rewrite/Summarize—if you sign in with a Microsoft account. Paint also got an AI “Coloring book” that turns prompts like “a cute fluffy cat on a donut” into pages, but it’s locked to new Copilot+ PCs. And the internet? Instant split-screen drama. The loudest chorus: “Notepad is turning into Word-lite.” Nostalgic minimalists say the whole point of Notepad was to be the plain, no-frills pad for quick text—and now it’s flirting with OneNote and VS Code’s turf. One commenter dropped Zawinski’s Law: every app keeps growing until it does everything, and the crowd nodded like a meme. Another asked why Notepad is competing with Microsoft’s own note and code apps, while a fed-up user declared, “Stop shoving AI down our throats.” The megaphone icon for the welcome dialog even got roasted: “Since when does Notepad need a PR department?” But not everyone’s clutching pearls. Some appreciate quick formatting and faster AI streaming, calling it handy for clean notes and summaries. Others love Paint’s coloring book gimmick—even if half the thread joked they’d need a new laptop just to draw a donut cat. Verdict: the simplest app on Windows just became a culture war over simplicity vs. shiny features.