NYT : Times Reader

Filed in archive Newsdesk 2.0 on August 31, 2006

The new york times is an unusual company to release software, yet they're doing just that : Together with Microsoft they've developed Times Reader which lets users read the NY Times electronically using advanced screen reading technology from Microsoft.

Windows XP or the current beta version of Windows Vista is a requirement to run Times Reader, because it uses the new Windows Presentation Foundation technology. However it will eventually run on the Mac, Linux and mobile devices - once Microsoft's "Windows Presentation Foundation Everywhere" initiative is up and running on those platforms.

I wonder what they meant by 'screen reader' if you depend on an Operating System ? Didn't they learn anything from all the other websites where you can read the screen just using a(ny) browser ? But is is within expectations from a company like Microsoft, who will use any opportunity they can get to tie people to their computer running Microsoft apps. They clearly misunderstood the way the web works : just a browser should do the trick and the intelligence should be in the web site. I don't see how this is a valuable thing - and forget about the Web 2.0 classification.