Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/07/08/microsoft-adds-spellcheck-and-autocorrect-to-windows-notepad.html
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Ditto, thank you for reminding me to install it on this computer, I hadn’t yet.
And FYI for everyone that’s interested in trying it, you can actually install it from the command line.
winget install -e --id Notepad++.Notepad++
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Oh God, the one app Microsoft installs that doesn’t have that shit is going to get it. Doesn’t that just figure?
Microsoft has apparently forgotten that the people who use notepad are techs, usually trying to edit a configuration file, script, or other technical artifact. Or worse, we’re trying to talk a relative through fixing some kind of issue. Changing apostrophes into “smart quotes” is just going to make our lives harder. And telling someone they made an error when they typed “cmd” intentionally is only going to confuse them.
This may not be enshittification, but it damn sure isn’t helpful.
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…and no fuel-injected ‘A.I.’ clippy anywhere? [squeened-down eyes emoji]
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yet…
(Yes Discourse, a period is a character)
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Sadly, Notepad++ run under Wine does not support the plugins I like. The look alike that runs native ( or flatpak paddy wack, give a dog a bone ) has no plugins at all.
Atom was a great replacement but is no longer under development or support. It’s replacement Pulsar offers the plugins I want to use but they don’t work. Why they put plugins from Atom that don’t work in their list I have no idea.
Visual Studio Code turned out to be the answer.
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I’m pretty comfy calling it enshittification.
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I tried it a few times, but never could get used to all Ctrl- dances my fingers had to learn. That was over 20 yeas ago, and I doubt my brain has improved in that department.
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… I was on Team Vim until I had to use it with a touchscreen keyboard 
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I haven’t been this excited since Apple added Calculator to iPad
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And now i have to figure out how to turn that off in a gpo, so we can let our kids with considerations use it again for their gcses exams, as they may be allowed to type but they are not allowed to spell check…
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heck. i still haven’t figured out the shift key.
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I had to work with Special Education kids on Word. Before they could get any work done I would have to switch off the spelling and grammar checks-- not because they weren’t allowed to use them, but because it’s hard enough for them to express themselves without the squiggly underline distractions. Just getting the words out is enough to think about. Spell and grammar check are for the second draft.
As far as Notepad, I mainly use it when pasting in some other program keeps tripping over for formatting nonsense. Pasting into Notepad is my go-to for stripping formatting.
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Wow, it’s that old, huh? I have been a Windows user since version 1.0 (I might even still have the 5-1/4 inch floppies around here somewhere) and in all that time I may have used Notepad less than 10 times ever.
Today I still use Crimson Editor 3.72 (released in 2008) because it’s just about perfect for my needs.
Since you mentioned “plugins” and “Visual Studio Code” I have to mention this wacky story.(part 1 of 6; all details pretty gory) And basically the same story but a year earlier because things are clearly not improving.
TL;DR VS Code plugins are like browser plugins except even worse curated, completely unsandboxed, and more likely to exist in proximity to juicy API keys and things just begging to become supply chain attacks. Be careful out there.
“However, in the Marketplace the verified blue check mark merely means that whoever the publisher is has proven the ownership of a domain. That means any domain. In reality, a publisher could buy any domain and register it to get that verified check mark.”
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Cool, cool. Now how do I disable it permanently?
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It’s in the settings (the gear icon on the right). Whether that’ll stick across updates 
Also, WTF was wrong with File->Settings like just about every other Windows app.
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Disappointing. I shall have to check where I got my Markdown plug-ins from.
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