5 forgotten Microsoft apps that I w...

There’s no denying that Microsoft stands tall among the many most influential tech giants on the market. The corporate has undeniably undergone a exceptional transformation over the previous few years. Home windows 11 launched a daring new look and slew of modern features, whereas the Surface lineup has cemented itself as a leader in the premium laptop space. Microsoft additionally wasted no time diving into the AI growth, launching Bing Chat and teasing the highly effective Copilot expertise. And let’s not overlook Azure, a key participant within the ongoing cloud wars.

However with each reinvention comes a little bit of collateral injury. Nice merchandise are typically left behind. As somebody who has been following Microsoft’s steps with eager curiosity, I imagine the corporate pulled the plug on these 5 apps far too quickly.

Home windows Film Maker

A key to my childhood

First up is Home windows Film Maker, and when you had been something like me, this app performed a giant position in your childhood. First launched in 2000, it got here bundled with Home windows Me, XP, and Vista, and different Home windows OS’s and shortly turned the go-to software for budding video editors. With its timeline-based interface, easy-to-use instruments, and built-in choices for titles, transitions, and voice-overs, it made modifying really feel approachable.

I at all times considered it because the iMovie of Home windows, and a strong purpose to skip shopping for a Mac in case your wants had been easy. Sadly, Home windows Film Maker isn’t any extra — it slowly obtained absorbed into the Home windows Stay branding and later into Home windows Stay Necessities, which, just like the app itself, finally went to mud in 2017.

Microsoft did attempt to carry over a few of its DNA into the Pictures app’s built-in video editor, however let’s be trustworthy, it isn’t fairly the identical.

Paint 3D

A 3D-graphics drawing program

Credit score: Microsoft

When Microsoft launched Paint 3D in 2017 as a part of the Home windows 10 Fall Creators Replace, it positioned the app as a daring re-imagining of the traditional Paint app. As an alternative of a easy digital doodling software, Paint 3D promised to be a artistic hub the place anybody might design 3D objects, apply stickers, and even remix different folks’s work via Microsoft’s on-line neighborhood.

The purpose was accessibility, making 3D modeling much less intimidating and opening the door to youngsters, college students, and hobbyists to discover a medium that is often restrictive with a number of vital skilled software program.

Regardless of the ambition, Paint 3D by no means actually discovered an viewers. Informal customers typically fell again on the traditional Paint app for fast edits and screenshots, whereas artists and designers continued to depend on extra highly effective platforms like Blender, Maya, and ZBrush. With no devoted person base, Microsoft’s imaginative and prescient of democratizing 3D creativity struggled to realize any traction.

Mail

A easy, clear mail app

Credit score: Microsoft / Pocket-lint

For years, the Mail app served because the default e mail consumer on Home windows 10 and early variations of Home windows 11. Designed to be light-weight and touch-friendly, it provided a easy, clutter-free option to handle your inbox with out diving into the complexity of full Outlook. Mail built-in easily with Outlook.com, Gmail, and Change accounts, making it a go-to possibility for anybody who simply wanted a clear, minimal software for checking emails throughout a number of accounts.

That comfort, nonetheless, has now come to an finish. As a part of its “One Outlook” technique, Microsoft has been consolidating its e mail companies right into a single, unified app. Mail, together with the Calendar and Folks apps, had been formally retired and changed by the brand new Outlook for Home windows.

Microsoft Lens

My favourite scanner app

Credit score: Microsoft / Pocket-lint

Microsoft introduced that it’s going to discontinue my favourite scanning app, Microsoft Lens, for iOS and Android as of September 15, 2025, because it transitions customers in direction of its Microsoft 365 Copilot program. The phasing out begins in levels: new downloads shall be disabled round mid-October 2025; the app shall be faraway from the Apple App Retailer and Google Play Retailer in mid-November; and as of December 15, 202, customers will now not have the ability to create new scans.

Lens has lengthy been my favourite scanner app due to its simplicity, free entry, and versatile options. I might convert receipts, enterprise playing cards, PowerPoints, and Phrase paperwork into PDFs all with out paywalls or subscriptions. Now, Microsoft is positioning Copilot as its alternative, however a number of key options from Lens will not be accessible — no less than not immediately. Lacking at launch are direct saving choices to OneNote, Phrase, and PowerPoint, enterprise card scanning, and accessibility instruments like Immersive Reader and the read-aloud characteristic.

WordPad

A easy phrase processor

Credit score: Microsoft

After practically three many years as a Home windows staple, WordPad was retired with the rollout of Home windows 11 Model 24H2. As a younger author, I spent a whole bunch, if not hundreds, of hours on WordPad, typing up dangerous fantasy RPG storylines. First launched with Home windows 95 because the successor to Microsoft Write, WordPad was at all times designed as a bridge — extra highly effective than Notepad, however lighter and easier than Microsoft Phrase. For informal modifying, it merely labored. You may open .RTF information or create easy paperwork with out having to personal Phrase.

However that exact same center floor can also have been what contributed to the downfall of WordPad. Microsoft now explicitly recommends Phrase for wealthy textual content paperwork and Notepad for plain textual content information, slicing out any position for WordPad in trendy Home windows. For a lot of Home windows customers, I do not anticipate the lack of WordPad to sting a lot, particularly not in a world the place Phrase, Google Docs, and even Notepad had been nonetheless close by. Nonetheless, the tip of WordPad feels symbolic to me. To me, it is the tip of an period in my life.