Originally posted by: dolph
without downloading every text editor listed here, can someone fill me in on what the differences are between the programs?
Notepad is the simplest, most barebones text editor there is... for some twisted reason, Notepad is the best editor for some people.
All other text editors except Vi/Vim offer multiple document windows, syntax highlighting, special editing shortcuts, etc.
Vi/Vim is in its own category because text input is just one (and not even the default) aspect of it -- it's more like a text manipulator.
Just for those that don't know, both Emacs and Vim are available for DOS and Windows.