The release of “Notepad++ for Mac” is denied by the original developer

As his name suggests, the noble Notepad++ text editor it started out as a more capable version of the classic Windows Notepad, with features like line numbers and text highlighting. It was created in 2003 by Don Ho, who continues to be its main writer and director, and has been Windows only software for its availability (older versions of Notepad++ support older OSes like Windows 95; the current version supports everything back to Windows 7).

I’m not a dedicated user of this program, but I know its history, that’s why I was surprised to see the news about the port of “Notepad++ for Mac” making rounds last weekas if it were a port of the original available on the Notepad++ website.

Apparently, the news surprised Ho too, himself what to say that the Mac version is its author, Andrey Letovthey are using Notepad++ icon (name) without permission.”

“This is misleading, inappropriate, and disrespectful to the project and its users,” Ho said. “It has already fooled people, including social media, into believing that this is an official release. To be clear: Notepad++ has never released a MacOS version.

Back and forth

Another link between Ho and Letov can be found in the Notepad++ GitHub thread, where Ho he said contacted Letov before the launch of Notepad++ for Mac, but did not have time to respond.

“The problem is that using the official name of Notepad++ and its logo gives the impression that your project is an official macOS project maintained or approved by the Notepad++ team, which is not the case,” Ho wrote in an email to Letov that he also sent to GitHub. “This creates confusion (sic) for users and exposes both you and the project to trademark issues.”