Microsoft Sparks Outrage by Adding Paywall to Notepad Feature

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Microsoft‘s Notepad, a basic text editor, has been in existence for more than four decades. For most of this time, it hasn’t undergone significant changes, but there’s been a recent spike in development. One new feature it now offers is character counting. Another consistent aspect is that Notepad has always been free and doesn’t necessitate an account. However, these aspects have recently sparked some uncertainty, although the situation isn’t as dire as initially perceived.

Now, Notepad offers a prompt to sign in with a Microsoft account, which has sparked concern and criticism. However, this prompt is intended for users who wish to utilize the AI-enhanced rewrite feature. It’s important to note that you can still use Notepad without needing a Microsoft account or a paid Microsoft 365 subscription. In fact, when attempting to use the rewrite feature within Notepad, separate prompts will appear inviting you to subscribe to either a Microsoft 365 Personal or Microsoft 365 Family account. These plans do require payment, as their names suggest.

You don’t need to utilize Rewrite to work with Notepad as your text editor; instead, you can simply deactivate the Rewrite function, and there won’t be any icon for it visible within Notepad. However, the presence of an icon and prompts related to Rewrite may come across as advertisements. If you attempt to use Rewrite without a paid subscription, you will eventually encounter a page where you can subscribe to Microsoft 365, or in my testing, that’s what occurred.

One of the new prompts was spotted by X users TheBobPony.

Many individuals find Microsoft’s actions questionable, as they’ve integrated promotional content into their Start menu, File Explorer, Weather app, and even the Settings app (specifically Game Pass). Although some may not label these as ads, it’s hard to deny that banners advertising paid products qualify as advertisements.

Do you need a Microsoft account to use Notepad?

Contrary to any initial suspicions raised by the prompt, you don’t require a Microsoft account to operate Notepad on Windows 11. Moreover, there’s no charge associated with using this application. However, it is essential to have both a Microsoft account and a paid plan if you wish to utilize Copilot features within Notepad.

To utilize the Rewrite tool, which is an AI-enhanced function, you’ll require AI credits. These credits are supplied with a Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscription. A message will pop up if you attempt to employ Rewrite without signing in, informing you of this requirement.

Essentially, Notepad from Microsoft still functions in its traditional manner even without a personal account or any subscription. However, it’s important to note that certain advanced features within the application now necessitate a paid membership along with a Microsoft account, for full access.

This model we’re working with is called ‘freemium.’ The app offers some features for free, allowing users to use it without seeing ads or paying to access those features. However, if someone wants to take advantage of all the app has to offer, they will need to pay a fee.

In simpler terms, Microsoft views the inclusion of the AI-driven Edit function as an extra benefit for Microsoft 365 users, which doesn’t fundamentally alter the basic functions of Notepad. A guide provided by Microsoft explains AI credits and how to acquire them.

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2025-02-18 18:09