TextEdit and the relief of simple software

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

TextEdit as Plain-Text and RTF Editor

  • Several commenters highlight that TextEdit does support plain text, though the option is non-obvious: “Make Plain Text” and a setting to default to it.
  • Some users are surprised after years on macOS to learn this; others say this opacity is partly Apple’s fault.
  • Historically, RTF-by-default is linked to NeXTSTEP’s early emphasis on rich text and TextEdit as an API demo.

RTF vs Plain Text and Data Durability

  • One user laments old RTF files becoming unreadable; others argue this is almost certainly disk corruption, not RTF obsolescence.
  • People note that RTF is textual and often recoverable via a plain text editor or specialized tools; still, corruption can make extraction partial or painful.
  • Some argue plain text is easier to reason about when debugging corruption, even if not inherently more robust.

Built-In Editors and System Philosophy

  • macOS also ships with vim, ed, pico/nano (alias), and mg; older versions included emacs.
  • Removal of “real” GPL tools is attributed to Apple’s desire to avoid GPL licensing complications.
  • One perspective: whether an OS includes a specific editor “is not a big deal” because the OS’s purpose is to let you install what you want.

Simplicity vs Power and AI “Invasion”

  • Many praise simple editors (TextEdit, Notepad, Microsoft Edit, mutt for mail) as calming, focus-inducing tools.
  • Others argue that code editors (Sublime, VS Code, BBEdit) are vastly more useful and that TextEdit is “demoware” or primitive.
  • AI integration is contentious:
    • Windows Notepad and Paint adding Copilot is described as intrusive and slow.
    • macOS’s Apple Intelligence is seen as more restrained: exposed as a system-wide service, globally disable-able, not branded inside TextEdit.
  • Some note that TextEdit now auto-completes via Apple Intelligence, complicating its “simple” image.

UX Quirks, Bugs, and Cloud Defaults

  • Complaints include: hard-to-disable line wrapping, margins and styles feeling uninspiring, and save prompts for empty-looking docs in some setups (possibly iCloud-related).
  • TextEdit’s autosave/“document enclave” behavior is loved by some as scratch-paper that just reappears.
  • Recent TextKit 2–based TextEdit builds are called buggy, with drawing and editing glitches, pushing some users to BBEdit.
  • Default saving to iCloud and app-centric open panels can be toggled via defaults write commands.

Alternative Editors and Use Cases

  • Popular alternatives mentioned: CotEditor, BBEdit (especially free mode), Sublime Text, TextMate, Zed, Bean, Pages, Microsoft Edit, iA Writer–style web apps (e.g., blank.page).
  • Some stress that TextEdit is not a code editor and suits non-developers who want light formatting; heavy users naturally gravitate to dedicated editors or word processors.

Debate Over “Simple Software” and the Article Itself

  • Several commenters emotionally endorse TextEdit as a long-time daily driver for notes, lists, and even magazine editing.
  • Others find the New Yorker piece shallow: seen as riding “AI bad” sentiment and ignoring valid reasons people rely on advanced editor features.
  • Mixed reactions to the article’s description of the command line as “writing instructions in code directly to the machine”; some consider it a passable simplification for lay readers, others call it seriously misleading.