With new beginnings, some things must also come to an end.
For the entire year, we have witnessed the birth of new technology. And as 2023 approaches its curtain call, let’s reflect on some tech advancements that won’t continue alongside us in the upcoming year.
Omegle
Sadly, the Russian roulette experience of meeting random people in video-based chats has ended. Launched in 2019, Omegle has shut down this year. The company behind the platform aimed to offer a “form of social spontaneity” has explained it could no longer handle the continuous lawsuits and expense of operating the platform due to its devious misuse.
Microsoft WordPad
Microsoft announced removing its basic word processing program in future Windows updates. WordPad is meant to be the right spot between Notepad and Microsoft Word, offering overall mid-level capabilities for users to create simple documents without relying on complex formatting while supporting various text formats. It may be too much of a middle-ground that the company decides to abandon it altogether.
Gmail’s Basic HTML View
Basic HTML View is a helpful feature for users still relying on older browsers or experiencing slow connections. Consider it the ‘Lite’ for Gmail. Gmail has announced that it will pull the plug for this version in January 2024 because the older version lacks the complete features available in the current Gmail interface.
Messenger Lite
Messenger Lite, perhaps the first minimalized social media app version of its kind, also came to a close. After seven years, Facebook announced its shutdown because of the several releases of low-end Android devices nowadays that can handle regular versions of apps.
OverDrive
Avid readers relying on e-books for some time know OverDrive has been a conducive platform served to borrow e-books to save expenses for over 20 years. However, this, too, retires this year in favor of the Libby app, which provides the same features and functions. The Libby app is available on the website and on mobile devices.
Twitter (Now X)
Specifically, it is the death of the iconic Twitter brand. In April of last year, the well-known social media app underwent a rebranding process and changed its name to ‘X.’ The platform was taken over by Elon Musk, who decided to get rid of the Twitter bird logo and replace it with a simpler, letter-based logo. Though, the habit of using “tweet” or “re-tweeting” might linger for a while.
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