> I couldn't open Notepad ... an error (0x803f8001) with Microsoft Store's licensing service stopped me

I wonder if it works at all with no online connection to that store.

The subscription to his own machine had bugs that prevented him from using a basic windowed text editor and that isn't the last straw?

Most of all, first-party apps from Microsoft have been ruined by them. Use alternatives when possible.

With Macbooks Air M4 starting at $1k/€1.1k, and apparently soon some even cheaper Macbooks coming up, it's really difficult to justify buying a Windows laptop those days and having to deal with all Microsoft bs, unless you have specific needs and being locked in.

The difference of "value for money" in terms of build quality, battery life, screen, touchpad, OS stability, OS upgrades experience, and overall polish and level of user (non-)hostility is immense.

A Windows guy for two decades, got an MBP for work, and while I miss some Windows software and I don't like some Mac things (e.g. no real write-to-disk hibernation; pricey upgrades from base models etc.), but there's no way I'm going back.

>I don't want people to switch away from Windows; I want Microsoft to treat its premier operating system like it used to.[...] and Windows 12 is ultimately an agentic AI OS, I wouldn't be surprised if more people stick with a debloated Windows 11, just as others did with Windows 10

Is there any justification for the first part other than that the authors job at windowscentral.com depends on it? Because I'm not seeing it in the article which amounts to the digital version of Stockholm syndrome. If even the author is predicting that this is what the next windows will look like, why aren't you running for the hills

To be clear, this is the horrible "new" Notepad "app" that I absolutely hated and instantly removed when it was forced upon everyone. I doubt the old "edit field in a wrapper" one which has been nearly the same since Win95 has this problem.

(My newest machine is now running Linux.)

I believe this is related to known issues with KB5074109

It hit Both Win11 24H2 and 25H2.

The renaming of “my computer” to “this PC” was quite telling.

Every horrible windows story is yet another glorious day for linux.

Fyi, in Mint if you search application for "notepad", "Text Editor" is the first result. That is curated search done right. Search for notepad on windows and you probably get an ad for a travel website.

If I had such a problem with my OS, I would have changed the distribution.