When it comes to large-scale updates to major operating systems like Windows11, news articles generally focus on which features were added and which bugs were crushed. However, software companies often want to giveth in one hand and taketh in the other, and whether Microsoft is fully on the list of older features in the 24H2 update that is expected to hit the fall

Microsoft plans to depreciate any aspect of windows, although not all entries have a confirmed date for removal. However, as a release candidate for the 24H2 update was issued to the people of the Windows Insiders program (via Sweclockers), it became clear what would be gone forever.

Many of us will never miss some of these, mind. Microsoft's virtual assistant Cortana has been on the way for a while now, but it will be a basic word processor that appeared almost three decades ago as part of the Wordpad, the first Windows23 to join it completely disappeared in H2 (of course, completely replaced by the co-pilot). I can't say I used the former, but despite its limitations, I always had a soft spot for the latter.

The Tips application, along with Steps Recorder and Windows Mixed Reality, is on the road to dodo. In the latter case, this will include the Mixed Reality app for Steamvr and WMR, but HoloLens will remain intact. WMR will get security patches and bug fixes until 2026-11, but it only applies to users who are still using the 23H2 version of Windows11.

Other than Cortana being replaced by co-pilot, I suspect the rest of these are all going on because I feel Microsoft is simply not using them to ensure that enough people devote their staff to maintaining the software.

The Steps Recorder case is understandable, as it has never helped solve Windows problems, but it's a pity that the wordpad is gone. Microsoft obviously wants users to sign up for the 365 subscription service instead of giving anything for anything, but at least there are free open source alternatives such as LibreOffice and FreeOffice.

Now, does anyone want to guess how long it will take Microsoft to depreciate the co-pilot?