14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft officially pulled the plug on the Windows Live suite of products in 2012, but some of the apps are still being used by people worldwide, pretty much because they continue to work very well despite the lack of updates.
The best example is Windows Live Writer, a desktop solution specifically aimed at Windows users that allows them to post new articles on their blogs without actually accessing the web-based platforms. It supports the most popular blogging services on the web, including WordPress and Blogger.
While the company no longer plans to update this app, it appears that there's some talk to make Windows Live Writer open source, meaning that developers interested in keeping the project alive could continue work on it and deliver new updates in the next years.
As Richard Hay wrote today, the one who broke the news on such a scenario is none other than Scott Hanselman, a Microsoft developer who said on Twitter that the company's executives have met to discuss the possibility of making Windows Live Writer open source.
“I'm in a meeting right now talking about a possible future for Windows Live Writer. I think 20k RTs of this would help,” he said, suggesting that the more retweets his message is getting, the bigger the chances for Microsoft to approve this project.
Basically, a bigger number of retweets would emphasize that users need more updates to Windows Live Writer, proving those in charge at Microsoft that this particular app is still enjoying a pretty big popularity among bloggers.
Windows Live Writer is still available for download right now and comes with support for basically all Windows versions that are still being used at the moment, including the unsupported Windows XP and the newly-launched Windows 8.1 Update.
More improvements would clearly come in handy to users who are still relying on this app to update their blogs, so let's just hope that Microsoft is indeed giving the green light to this open source proposal.
Here's the description of the app published on Microsoft's download center which emphasizes some of its key features:
“Windows Live Writer makes it easy to share your photos and videos on almost any blog service. With Writer, you can preview everything you’re adding to your blog, and see exactly how the fonts, spacing, colors, and images will look, before you publish. It's fast and easy to make photos and videos look great on your blog. You can even create a photo album - just select the style you want and Writer takes care of the rest. Writer is already packed with useful features, but if you like to tinker, there are all sorts of plug-ins you can add to help you do even more.”
We've asked Microsoft if the company made any decision on this, so we'll update the article when we receive an answer. Fingers crossed.