An Overview: The Strategy Behind the Shutdowns
Between 2022 and 2025, Microsoft made a number of quiet but deliberate exits from its own legacy ecosystem. From browsers to AI tools and niche hardware, the company doubled down on streamlining — favoring integrated, cloud-based experiences over stand-alone products.
It wasn’t all sudden. Some phase-outs were signaled years in advance. Others… just stopped getting updates. Microsoft’s broader goal? Trimming its software lineup to reflect modern user behavior, enterprise needs, and AI-first ambitions. In short, less clutter, more cohesion.
What Went Wrong — Or Just Got Old
Let’s not call them failures. Many of these products served their purpose for years. But in a fast-moving ecosystem, “still working” doesn’t always mean “still worth keeping.”
- Internet Explorer 11: Officially retired in 2022 after nearly three decades. Microsoft Edge had long taken the lead — IE11 just lingered on for legacy enterprise needs.
- Cortana (Windows 11): Once Microsoft’s go-to AI assistant, it quietly exited the OS in 2023. The rise of Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT-powered tools made Cortana feel… out of sync.
- Windows Mixed Reality: Phased out in 2023, as Microsoft stepped back from building native VR/AR into Windows. The hardware support simply didn’t justify the maintenance cost.
- Azure Kinect DK: Born from Xbox Kinect, this developer kit was sunset in 2023. Motion tracking tech moved on, and so did developers.
- Windows Mail App: Discontinued in 2024 — merged into the new Outlook for Windows experience. Fewer icons, fewer platforms. That’s the theme.
It wasn’t personal. It was product strategy.
Echoes and User Reactions
For many, saying goodbye to Internet Explorer felt like closing the book on a whole chapter of computing history. It wasn’t always loved — but it was always there. Some institutions scrambled to update systems still dependent on ActiveX or IE-specific functions.
Cortana, meanwhile, faded with less noise. While some users had developed routines around it, most had long switched to Alexa, Google Assistant — or nothing at all.
Windows Mixed Reality enthusiasts voiced quiet disappointment — especially developers who had bet on it. But as Meta and Apple pulled ahead in the headset race, Microsoft simply stepped back.
Kinect DK? A small but loyal niche had hopes for further evolution. Instead, it entered the archive alongside its console ancestor.
And the Mail app? It was never flashy. And now, it’s just… part of something else.
What Came Next
Each discontinued product had a successor — in name, function, or at least spirit.
- Edge (Chromium) replaced IE11 — leaner, faster, with fewer security holes to patch.
- Windows Copilot stepped into Cortana’s shoes, armed with generative AI and productivity intent.
- Microsoft Mesh may absorb some of Mixed Reality’s enterprise ambitions.
- Open-source and third-party motion tools picked up where Kinect DK left off.
- New Outlook for Windows now combines Mail and Calendar — a single app with more control.
Less fragmentation, more bundling. That’s the Microsoft of now.
Recap: Products, Purposes, and Departures
- Internet Explorer 11
Launch: 2013
End: 2022
Purpose: Web browser
Reason: Legacy support ended
Used by: Corporations, public sector IT - Cortana (Windows)
Launch: 2015
End: 2023
Purpose: Virtual assistant
Reason: Replaced by AI-based Copilot
Used by: Windows desktop users - Windows Mixed Reality
Launch: 2017
End: 2023
Purpose: AR/VR interface
Reason: Strategic refocus
Used by: Developers, niche VR users - Azure Kinect DK
Launch: 2019
End: 2023
Purpose: Motion tracking, depth sensing
Reason: Low adoption
Used by: Research, robotics, healthcare projects - Windows Mail App
Launch: 2015
End: 2024
Purpose: Default mail client
Reason: Integrated into Outlook
Used by: General users, students
And then it went quiet.
No farewell tour. No nostalgia splash.
Just a subtle redirect — and then a 404.
Another batch of features lost not to bugs, but to strategy.
Five tools. Three years. One familiar pattern.
You didn’t rage. You adapted.
Microsoft called it streamlining.
We called it Tuesday.