Microsoft Edit
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 36 of 56 text editors by recommenders
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.
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.
10 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 10
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 10 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Long-lived, still works decades on
“This isn't bad at all given how most other software evolved in thr the intervening 30 years.”
Comment from 25 Feb 2026 in “Windows 11 Notepad to support Markdown” “EDIT.COM still works in dosbox”
Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “Windows Notepad App Remote Code Execution Vulnerability” Nostalgic successor to MS-DOS EDIT.COM
“This is the stuff I grew up with: QBASIC and EDIT.COM for example.”
Comment from 25 Apr 2026 in “"Plain text has been around for decades and it's here to stay." – Unsung” “EDIT.COM still works in dosbox”
Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “Windows Notepad App Remote Code Execution Vulnerability”
Other text editors people recommend
The four most recommended other text editors, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zed | 700 | 430 | 62% | 13 | 6 mo57 owners | — |
| GNU Emacs | 648 | 207 | 76% | 13 | 20 yrs158 owners | Approved |
| Vim | 513 | 127 | 80% | 13 | 20 yrs55 owners | Approved |
| Visual Studio Code | 485 | 547 | 47% | 12 | 2 yrs13 owners | — |
| Microsoft EditThis page | 10 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | Approved |
What people said
9 of the 11 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I would prefer ms-edit or nano if I have to edit text files from the terminal.”
“This is the stuff I grew up with: QBASIC and EDIT.COM for example.”
“with a user interface that somehow manages to be more consistent with basic Windows UI conventions”
“I've never discovered that. Amazing!”
“This isn't bad at all given how most other software evolved in thr the intervening 30 years.”
“Maybe I'd mind it less if they put the new MS Edit in Windows by default”
“simple, lightweight, alternative to notepad”
“EDIT.COM still works in dosbox”
“Promising but very barebones.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.