Oh what? That is really bad. Epub support in edge was the one thing I used and was impressed by. The text looked great and it supported very good read-aloud that tracked the words in the text. I was impressed how well it read tricky things like numbers and sub-clauses. If you switched to one of the British accents, crank the speed to 2x and it was a great way to power through some books that might have become a slog. When you begin to tire, switch the gender of the voice and it suddenly becomes more digestible again.
I just don't know why MS spends so much time shooting itself in it's feet. So much talent and promising product gets burned for indecipherable reasons.
It's obviously not a configuration suitable for everybody, but I read epubs in a similar manner with Emacs, using the read-aloud and nov packages. It highlights each sentence as it's read, using the system TTS (MacOS's `say` in my case.)
The biggest thing that was exciting to me was EPUB having native OS support, effectively, via Edge. You could assume an EPUB was readable in Windows without downloading something, just like you can assume for JPGs and TXT files. This feels like a huge step back for the format to lose this.
> “Download an .epub app to keep reading,” a notification in Edge classic reads when you load an EPUB document. “Microsoft Edge will no longer be supporting [sic] e-books that use the .epub file extension. Visit the Microsoft Store to see our recommended .epub apps.”
What’s wrong with this? It looks grammatically correct to me…
It seems fine to me, too, if not the most direct wording. "Microsoft Edge will no longer support e-books..." is shorter, but the existing wording isn't wrong.
The author is probably an English major. He was waiting all his life to finally say 'you see, my degree is not completely useless'. He would, of course, be completely and utterly wrong - both in justifying his degree, and his analysis of relnotes grammar.
This makes no sense to me. EPUB is basically HTML in a ZIP container with mandatory included files. If you already have a full-blown web browser, and a ZIP library at hand, naively rendering EPUB pages by unzipping to temp files and tweaking the URI resolver is an easy addition. If you already have a full-blown web browser that already renders EPUB pages better than a lot of EPUB-specific reader programs, removing that support is doing work to reduce functionality.
I'm very surprised how bad most ePub readers are. You would think that by now picking an ePub reader for the PC would be a no brainer but it seems there are very few good ones. Too bad, the ePub reader is very good. It's the only reason I use Edge.
They should spin off the old Edge as a reincarnation of Reader from Windows 8.
It was a great app and I hoped it would become as versatile as Preview on Mac.
It was annoying when I double clicked a EPUB (or PDF) it would open the browser and sometimes all my tabs from last session would open and in most cases just the EPUB would open and I lose the previous browsing session.
This needs to be a dedicated app separate from the browser. I hope they have something in the works.
Does windows have anything analogous to quicklook? That's one feature I think Apple did well with.. though it's obnoxious it can no longer be extended to support non-MPEG-LA video formats...
I've experimented with using mpv controlled over json IPC as a FOSS substitute to quicklook, which works well for media but not documents...
Microsoft have a weird habit of releasing niche or experimental products in a fully fledged form and then not knowing how to make them useful or popular (3D Paint, anyone?)
Did they really expect a solid ePub reader to be a significant selling point for the browser?
It is for me. Also, the PDF reader, and the “Add notes” feature that allow you to annotate any web page. The support for the Surface Pen is just excellent in Edge.
I think it was a mistake integrating the browser with an Epub reader. Having said that, it was still a very nice and elegantly designed part of Edge. So I would like having it as a stand alone app, but I don't expect MS doing the right thing. They will either kill it completely or rewrite it from scratch with Electron.
I really wished they hadn't killed Edge. And I love EPUB in Edge for technical books - you can open several in different tabs and also search within them. The browser is the most natural vehicle for EPUB! Using a third party reader on Windows is going to be a pain.
Oh, it could do that? I still use Calibre and Sigil. Then again, how can any browser not in some way support ePUB? It's just a bunch of hyperlinked XML files in a container. Rename it to a .ZIP and you're good to go.
While I'm sure that there are some adequate ePub readers for Windows desktops, I find myself doubting that there are many actual good ePub readers. At the very least when I looked from a Windows phone a year or two back there was nothing very good in the Windows App Store. Maybe Microsoft's push towards the Surface family particularly the Surface Go as a tablet means that there will be something worthwhile.
I've found SumatraPDF to be the lowest overhead document browser for Windows. Surface book is actually a really nice piece of kit. I'm surprised the surface laptop came from MS.
After getting a Windows Tablet, I was looking hard for a good epub/pdf reader with annotations. To my surprise, Edge was by far the best reader out there. However, a few weeks later an update killed the annotations feature - I just couldn't save them anymore. None of the support-provided solutions has worked. I then started using Calibre to convert my epub files into azn3 and open them in the Windows Kindle app, which is also quite nice.
Very annoying, but I guess makes sense as chromium doesn't support epub and they'd want to keep the different edges consistent. And the old edge will be gone soon anyways..
A natural question is: is edge still going to be the default PDF reader in Windows? And will edge's pdf viewer look just like chrome's
Probably and it does in Dev and Beta builds (which is a disappointment because "Edge Classic" PDF Viewer was better and Chrome's a distinct regression in some disappointing ways).
I'd say PDF is all about presentation, while ePub/Mobi is closer to real books that focus on content and legibility.
EPubs are perfect for long-lengthy documents, where you can bookmark position to given line of text (not page, so I'd say it's more precise to get back in which paragraph you've finished reading), everything is searchable/copyable/highlightable, formatted into single-column, usually justified, wrapped using hyphenation, easy to change font size, colors (i.e. day/night mode) and there isn't strict paper (canvas) size. Basically, it increases accessibility and focus.
While the PDF is just like a ZIP (I think those formats share the same popularity), that consist collection of numbered crisp, anti-aliased PNGs and SVGs, sometimes with an attached metadata. I often hear, there isn't any chance to PDF document look different on other device. However, PDF is just a subset of PostScript (hence the name) and has many versions (standardized as a public document, by ISO, by other parties or just paywalled)[1]. Fortunately, quite old PDF1.5 version has majority of features used by typical document creator, also fact that there aren't many competing implementations and they seem to be up-to-date with PDF2.0 convinced users and developers to use it. That's worth noting, PDF supports reflow [0], but it is far from perfect and I guess many bookworms will refrain from using it at all.
[+] [-] duncanawoods|6 years ago|reply
I just don't know why MS spends so much time shooting itself in it's feet. So much talent and promising product gets burned for indecipherable reasons.
[+] [-] liability|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mips_avatar|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wodenokoto|6 years ago|reply
Removing a (great) feature that almost no one uses, in a product that is being sunset is shooting oneself in the foot?
[+] [-] ocdtrekkie|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sitkack|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] saagarjha|6 years ago|reply
What’s wrong with this? It looks grammatically correct to me…
[+] [-] pwinnski|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dragonwriter|6 years ago|reply
This is answered in the next sentence of the article: it’s “support” not “be supporting,” Microsoft.
The is using the future continuous when the simple future is more appropriate to the message.
[+] [-] vernie|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|6 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] xxpor|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] labster|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|6 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] 2_listerine_pls|6 years ago|reply
“e-books that use the .epub file extension, Microsoft Edge will no longer support”
[+] [-] uniformlyrandom|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] logfromblammo|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sedatk|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] WheelsAtLarge|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Kaiyou|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] runxel|6 years ago|reply
Dammit Microsoft!
[+] [-] marcosdumay|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] durpleDrank|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] srikz|6 years ago|reply
It was a great app and I hoped it would become as versatile as Preview on Mac.
It was annoying when I double clicked a EPUB (or PDF) it would open the browser and sometimes all my tabs from last session would open and in most cases just the EPUB would open and I lose the previous browsing session.
This needs to be a dedicated app separate from the browser. I hope they have something in the works.
[+] [-] Shorel|6 years ago|reply
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/freda-epub-ebook-reader/9w...
[+] [-] liability|6 years ago|reply
I've experimented with using mpv controlled over json IPC as a FOSS substitute to quicklook, which works well for media but not documents...
[+] [-] underwater|6 years ago|reply
Did they really expect a solid ePub reader to be a significant selling point for the browser?
[+] [-] worble|6 years ago|reply
Well it was the only reason I ever opened Edge, so it kind of worked?
[+] [-] dgellow|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ZuLuuuuuu|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] contravariant|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lenkite|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] anoncake|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] agluszak|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] piotrkubisa|6 years ago|reply
SumatraPDF is fine to read EPUBs on Windows (also supports PDF, MOBI, FB2, CHM, XPS, DjVu) - it's free, open-source software [0][1].
[0]: https://github.com/sumatrapdfreader/sumatrapdf
[1]: https://www.sumatrapdfreader.org/free-pdf-reader.html
[+] [-] sireat|6 years ago|reply
Epubs are basically zipped HTML. How hard would it have been to leave basic support?
So now one has to "freeze" Edge to keep epub support.
I doubt it is as easy as moving Edge to a different folder. Probably need to mess with regedit as well.
[+] [-] Endy|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fencepost|6 years ago|reply
At least, that's the dream.
[+] [-] fencepost|6 years ago|reply
https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/E-book_software#Windows
[+] [-] cannonedhamster|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Shorel|6 years ago|reply
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/freda-epub-ebook-reader/9w...
[+] [-] niceworkbuddy|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] phjesusthatguy3|6 years ago|reply
Well, good. Now we can go back to when browsers handed files off to helper apps that supported the formats in question. I'm all for it.
[+] [-] jackcodes|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] darekkay|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hackerbrother|6 years ago|reply
A natural question is: is edge still going to be the default PDF reader in Windows? And will edge's pdf viewer look just like chrome's
[+] [-] WorldMaker|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] IloveHN84|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dajohnson89|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] piotrkubisa|6 years ago|reply
EPubs are perfect for long-lengthy documents, where you can bookmark position to given line of text (not page, so I'd say it's more precise to get back in which paragraph you've finished reading), everything is searchable/copyable/highlightable, formatted into single-column, usually justified, wrapped using hyphenation, easy to change font size, colors (i.e. day/night mode) and there isn't strict paper (canvas) size. Basically, it increases accessibility and focus.
While the PDF is just like a ZIP (I think those formats share the same popularity), that consist collection of numbered crisp, anti-aliased PNGs and SVGs, sometimes with an attached metadata. I often hear, there isn't any chance to PDF document look different on other device. However, PDF is just a subset of PostScript (hence the name) and has many versions (standardized as a public document, by ISO, by other parties or just paywalled)[1]. Fortunately, quite old PDF1.5 version has majority of features used by typical document creator, also fact that there aren't many competing implementations and they seem to be up-to-date with PDF2.0 convinced users and developers to use it. That's worth noting, PDF supports reflow [0], but it is far from perfect and I guess many bookworms will refrain from using it at all.
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Portable_Docume...
[1]: https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/reading-pdfs-reflow-ac...