Following last month's coverage of an unofficial Mac port of Notepad++ that the original developer called out for trademark violation, the dispute has now been resolved with a rebrand.
The macOS port was previously released by Andrey Letov under the Notepad++ name without authorization. Don Ho created the original Windows code editor in 2003, and had publicly objected to the unofficial app's use of his trademark and the inclusion of his name and biography on its author page. After settling the dispute, the app has subsequently been renamed Nextpad++.
The site for Nextpad++ has been thoroughly updated and clearly states that the app is an "open-source and independent community port of Notepad++ to macOS." Elsewhere, Letov's About page describes the project as a Mac port of the Notepad++ GPL codebase, built on Objective-C++, Scintilla, and Cocoa, and shipped as a universal binary for Apple silicon and Intel Macs. The app also has a new icon.
Names aside, it seems Daring Fireball's John Gruber is less than charmed by the result, describing the app as feeling "unholy" and suggesting the rapid port could only have been built with AI vibe-coding tools. The site states development began on March 10.
Have you tried out Nextpad++ for Mac? Let us know what you think in the comments.
