this post was submitted on 04 May 2026

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210

Notepad++ Creator Don Ho Calls Out "Fake" MacOS App Over Trademark Violation (www.macrumors.com)

submitted 16 hours ago by sanitation@lemmy.radio to c/technology@lemmy.world

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[–] XLE@piefed.social 73 points 15 hours ago

Dev: uses N++ name and logo without permission

Dev: adds Don Ho to the list of authors

Don Ho: "I did not authorize this"

Dev: "so in coordination with Don Ho, I am renaming the app"

[–] outandinburger@ttrpg.network 43 points 15 hours ago

Btw, this was just a vibe clone anyway. It sucked.

[–] rotkehle@feddit.org 9 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

is there a good alternative close to notepad++ on MacOS?

[–] comador@lemmy.world 18 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (2 children)

CotEditor and BBEdit 15 are probably the best Mac alternatives that will fit most needs.

[–] MurrayL@lemmy.world 6 points 15 hours ago

Yep, CotEditor is fantastic - solo dev and they’re very careful to follow the actual macOS interface guidelines, so it looks and feels native throughout.

[–] Good4Nuthin@lemmy.world 6 points 15 hours ago

Yeah, I landed on CotEditor after trying quite a few.

[–] DougPiranha42@lemmy.world 4 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

I settled on sublime. It is not exactly the same as np++, but works great on both Mac and Linux, so at least I don’t need to get used to a separate editor for those two environments.

[–] anomnom@sh.itjust.works 1 points 27 minutes ago

Anyone remember Textmate? I’m still using it on my old Macs. Sublime was a similar app in its early versions, but I haven’t followed it.

[–] Davel23@fedia.io 3 points 15 hours ago

Oh no Don Ho!

[+] comador@lemmy.world -25 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

It's a real application that looks and works just like NP++, but it isn't NP++ and never will be as NP++ is heavily written using Win32 and C++.

NP++ would need a complete rewrite to work on anything other than Winblowz, which is what this Mac port is: a rewrite.

I think it's valid that they have to change the name, but the app itself isn't fake.

[–] markz@suppo.fi 41 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

but the app itself isn't fake.

When someone calls a plastic rolex a fake, they don't mean that it isn't a watch

[+] comador@lemmy.world -21 points 12 hours ago (4 children)

lmao. I've been around FOSS long enough to remember when GIMP was considered a rip off of Photoshop much in the same light and Blender was a Maya rip off early on.

NP++ for Mac works, I'm running ut and it isn't plastic fake anymore than GIMP or Blender are. They fucked up in using the name though, it's not an official release.

[–] markz@suppo.fi 3 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

The fake watch can probably tell the time, too.

As far as I know GIMP and Blender never tried to masquerade as Photoshop and Maya.

Using someone else's branding to deceive users isn't just a little "fuck up". One does not impersonate another project by accident.

[–] finalarbiter@piefed.social 20 points 12 hours ago

GIMP never called itself Photoshop. The problem here is this clone is using the trademarked name and lying about official association with Ho, not that it has similar functionality to Notepad++.

Also, Blender predates Maya by at least a couple years, so not sure what you're going on about there.

[–] tortina_original@lemmy.world 9 points 11 hours ago

Considering the nonsense you posted I don't think you have any idea about FOSS.

[–] XLE@piefed.social 14 points 12 hours ago

That's a bit odd, considering Blender was released in 1994 (development can be traced back to 1987), while Maya was released in 1998...

And even if the dates were reversed, I didn't have any trouble distinguishing the word "Blender" from the word "Maya", nor telling their logos apart