# Microsoft Edit

10 Hacker News commenters recommended Microsoft Edit and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Lightweight Windows text editor with a UI that follows basic Windows conventions, a simple alternative to Notepad. One critic finds it promising but very barebones.

## Why people recommend it

- Long-lived, still works decades on (2 comments): "This isn't bad at all given how most other software evolved in thr the intervening 30 years." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47158722)) "EDIT.COM still works in dosbox" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46973384))
- Nostalgic successor to MS-DOS EDIT.COM (2 comments): "This is the stuff I grew up with: QBASIC and EDIT.COM for example." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47900317)) "EDIT.COM still works in dosbox" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46973384))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Windows Notepad](https://hackerapproved.com/p/windows-notepad.md): 86 recommend
- [TextEdit](https://hackerapproved.com/p/textedit.md): 15 recommend
- [CotEditor](https://hackerapproved.com/p/coteditor.md): 9 recommend
- [Pico text editor](https://hackerapproved.com/p/pico.md): 6 recommend
- [Atto text editor (NetBSD)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/atto-text-editor.md): 6 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Microsoft Edit", https://hackerapproved.com/p/edit-exe/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).