I had to object to a few of these too. If you need an Office viewer, you can just download the office apps - unlicensed, e.g. on an iPad, you can read office files just fine.
Microsoft Edge is better than ever. They killed the last vestiges of Trident, and good riddance. And… they didn’t even kill that if you consider IE mode will survive for at least another decade, and no announcements have been made about the underlying code in Windows which will probably survive as long as COM and Win32.
Also, Microsoft Reader originally was for ebooks, it was released initially in Aug 2000. I remember it being one of the few ebook reader apps before Kindle was more commonly available.
And Microsoft Expression was created from existing software: Frontpage, Visual Studio, Creature House and iView Media all contributed to the original products. They were discontinued after a deal with Adobe to sell apps on the Microsoft Store, if I recall correctly. It wouldn’t surprise me if Microsoft asked Adobe to not make cross-platform app-building tools (e.g. Flash RIA and Flex - last released in 2012 at about the same time) in exchange for Microsoft not making creative tools. Both were feeling threatened by the other.
Microsoft Edge is better than ever. They killed the last vestiges of Trident, and good riddance. And… they didn’t even kill that if you consider IE mode will survive for at least another decade, and no announcements have been made about the underlying code in Windows which will probably survive as long as COM and Win32.
Also, Microsoft Reader originally was for ebooks, it was released initially in Aug 2000. I remember it being one of the few ebook reader apps before Kindle was more commonly available.
And Microsoft Expression was created from existing software: Frontpage, Visual Studio, Creature House and iView Media all contributed to the original products. They were discontinued after a deal with Adobe to sell apps on the Microsoft Store, if I recall correctly. It wouldn’t surprise me if Microsoft asked Adobe to not make cross-platform app-building tools (e.g. Flash RIA and Flex - last released in 2012 at about the same time) in exchange for Microsoft not making creative tools. Both were feeling threatened by the other.