Five apps that need to rise from the Microsoft Graveyard Hallie Frederick | usagoldmines.com

If you happen to’re a longtime Home windows person, chances are high you’ve got possible used apps which are lengthy gone. Some might remind you of a time when the identify of a long-forgotten app might deliver a wave of nostalgia or a repressed sense of dread for others. But, it could possibly be argued that loads of these helpful apps had been merely forward of their time.

Take Microsoft Encarta, the corporate’s long-defunct encyclopedia app that spanned 5 disks, or one DVD when you had been fortunate sufficient to have a PC with a DVD drive within the early 2000s. Now, Wikipedia dominates the web, in addition to the flexibility to make use of AI assistants like Copilot and ChatGPT for a fast historic search. With this in thoughts, we have taken a visit to the Microsoft Graveyard and dug up 5 apps that deserve a revival for a future launch of Windows.

5

Microsoft Cash

With the price of dwelling disaster nonetheless impacting many nations all over the world, budgeting has turn into extra necessary than ever. Many use the best expense tracker apps nowadays, however again within the Nineties, Microsoft had a really helpful app referred to as Microsoft Cash. From its debut in October 1991 to its demise in 2020, this app provided a colourful and detailed overview of your funds. You could possibly observe sure budgets in pie charts and graphs, in addition to present upcoming payments to your dwelling and extra.

Nothing related like this app exists for Home windows 11, however there ought to be — particularly when you think about how a Cash app may work for Microsoft’s AI assistant, Copilot. Think about the scene: you are managing your funds by way of a brand new model of Cash, and Copilot has been analyzing your earnings and outgoings over the previous few months. It may recommend methods to chop again on sure issues, in addition to choices to have a look at a brand new line for the iPhone 16 Pro, after month. The constructing blocks are there —Microsoft Cash simply must return with a view to full the package deal.

4

Microsoft Encarta

As talked about above, Encarta was primarily the precursor to Wikipedia. Though many might keep in mind this encyclopedia suite as a five-disk package deal, Encarta was additionally briefly made accessible on-line for subscribers in 2000. This encyclopedia suite was an incredible useful resource to seek out out about historic occasions spanning hundreds of years. With round 50,000 articles, principally filled with photos and full movement movies, they went into nice element about numerous subjects. Surprisingly, it wasn’t till 2009 that Encarta met its demise, because of the rise of Wikipedia and social networks like Reddit, which nonetheless makes it simpler — and free, to search for one thing right away.

These days, if somebody desires to search for the Tudor Monarch, Henry VIII, it’s going to possible be completed by way of a search engine like Google, or an AI assistant like Copilot. However think about a situation the place Encarta might be immediately accessible by way of Home windows and Copilot, with out having to go looking by way of the vastness of the World Huge Internet. This curated content material could possibly be an interesting characteristic of a future Home windows launch, as it could be immediately accessible to Home windows customers. It may even be a part of Copilot+, Microsoft’s premium tier of its AI assistant that may do much more.

In an age of good TVs and streaming gadgets like Amazon Fire and Apple TV 4K, it is simpler than ever to handle your binge-watching throughout your entire gadgets. Nevertheless, Home windows nonetheless lacks a devoted app that may supply related options from Amazon and Apple. That is the place Home windows Media Middle may make a comeback. For these unfamiliar, Media Middle was first launched in 2002 as a part of a particular version of Home windows XP, Microsoft’s working system on the time. Media Middle was displayed in a blue and inexperienced interface the place customers may browse movies, music, and dwell TV because of assist for TV Tuner playing cards.

Although it had a small however passionate following, Media Middle was discontinued quickly after Home windows 10’s launch in 2015. What made Media Middle stand out was its ease of use when managing saved media in your PC. Its return may mark Microsoft’s additional push into the lounge and put it up in opposition to the Kindle Fireplace Stick 4K and Apple TV 4K. Think about turning your laptop computer right into a Media Middle that you might ‘forged’ to a close-by TV, with all of your bought media at your fingertips, wrapped in an interface that is harking back to the unique 2002 design of Media Middle. For a lot of, this could possibly be a really interesting characteristic.

2

Microsoft Reader

Bear in mind when Microsoft had an eBook reader app? In all probability not. Between 2000 and 2007, Microsoft Reader enabled customers to purchase and skim books within the firm’s proprietary ‘.LIT’ format. Firms like Barnes and Noble and Amazon additionally partnered with Microsoft in 2000 to deliver their guide libraries to the app. You could possibly use Reader on a Home windows PC, or the much-missed cell model on the corporate’s Pocket PC gadgets. In fact, Microsoft Reader light away as soon as corporations like Amazon took maintain of the eBook market — but it surely feels prefer it’s time for a comeback. Right now, you should utilize Microsoft’s companies on a bunch of gadgets, such because the Surface Pro 11, MacBook Air, and iPhone 16 Pro Max. Maybe Microsoft Reader ought to return as a service accessible on all of those gadgets however optimized for Home windows. With so many gadgets now able to remodeling into tablets, many would work completely as an eBook reader for comics, graphic novels, and extra. A contemporary Microsoft Reader may give customers one more reason to stay with Home windows, very similar to how Apple’s Ebook Retailer retains customers inside the Apple ecosystem.

1

MSN Messenger

If you happen to had been a youngster between 1999-2008, chances are high you used MSN Messenger on the household PC. Launched in 1999, it was, for a lot of, the go-to technique to keep in contact with buddies after faculty. You could possibly replace your standing with ASCII artwork and emojis, use options like ‘Nudge’, and even play multiplayer video games. Nevertheless, with the arrival of Apple’s App Retailer in 2008, in addition to Google’s Android Retailer in the identical 12 months, MSN Messenger shortly misplaced relevance, because it was far simpler to speak with family and friends on smartphones and tablets. Nevertheless, it is excessive time that MSN Messenger ought to come again.

At present, Microsoft’s messaging apps are in a little bit of a complicated mess. Skype, the video-calling app, has fallen by the wayside lately, whereas Microsoft Groups, its business-focused app that is a mixture of the office app Slack and, oddly, Skype — is primarily for work use. A revamped MSN Messenger may fill the hole as a consumer-focused messaging app that replaces Skype. The app could possibly be a mixture of what Messenger used to supply, in addition to options impressed by WhatsApp and Skype. This could give older customers a way of nostalgia but in addition goal in what MSN Messenger is supposed for whereas separating Microsoft Groups strictly as a piece software. It provides customers the impression that two apps supply utterly totally different use circumstances. This fashion, Microsoft may deliver again MSN Messenger for a complete new technology but in addition supply customers a enjoyable technique to message each other on Home windows as soon as once more.

Pour one out for the apps lengthy gone

Whereas we have highlighted 5 Microsoft apps that deserve a revival, there are a lot extra forgotten gems from Apple and Google that could possibly be resurrected too. Take Google Wave, a short-lived social community from 2009 that featured nice methods to speak and collaborate throughout its apps. Or Aperture, a unbelievable photo-editing app by Apple that launched in 2005, which may have rivaled Adobe Photoshop earlier than being scrapped in 2015. Hopefully, we’ll see the return of a few of these apps quickly. Within the meantime, take a look at this list and see when you acknowledge any of those long-lost apps from the previous.