Microsoft Reader 2.4.1 has been released – a quick review

http://www.microsoft.com/reader/downloads/ppc.asp

Microsoft Reader (MS Reader for short), Microsoft's book reader for the Pocket PC, Tablet PC and desktop PC platforms is, slowly and steadily, getting better and better. Almost three years ago, when I developed and maintained my HTTP filter & Mobipocket Web Companion Support Pack, MS Reader was still really inferior to, say, Mobipocket Reader (Mobi for short), the - in my opinion - still best document reader for the Pocket PC (not taking into account applications like uBook, which have a bit different usability area). Mobi had much better memory model, much broader platform compatibility (it's a multiplatform reader with clients for all platforms – this was of extreme importance back in the days of QVGA, when I preferred HiRes(+) Palm OS devices to Pocket PC's for reading e-books because of their - then - superior screens), much better image handling (panning/zooming, even with huge images), much more open file format (it's very easy to convert from/to Mobipocket's own document format), much better scripting and a very nice Web extraction module (which I enhanced a lot with the additional Support Pack). MS Reader has certainly lagged even in (additional manual tweaking-free) installibility to alternative memories – this, along with the WM5 compatibility, is the most important addition to the new version. Advantages What has been fixed? The most important is that application can indeed be installed to alternative, non-RAM memory types without problems. If you have tried to install earlier versions to, say, a storage card, you may already have noticed that this can't be done without some additional work (which I've described, say, here). That is, - at last, it has activation/DRM support for WM5 – this has really been missing (see for example this PPCT article on this problem)! - the shortcut icon doesn't need to be manually created if you install the application to a storage card/to the built-in File Store/Storage - the same stands for the font files the application uses – you don't need to copy them to \Windows any more by hand. Unfortunately, however, the latter also means these font files (namely, bkdings.ttf, frutiger.ttf, frutbd.ttf and frutit.ttf, taking 260 kbytes of RAM) become locked by the Windows operating system after the first soft reset – therefore, if you want to remove/relocate them with using, for example, the excellent Fonts on Storage application (you may want to read my remarks and tips on this really excellent app here), do it before resetting your device, just after installing MS Reader. MS Reader only uses these font files to render the page arrows and some other, not-that-important GUI components, so, you may not really need them, especially if you have a low-end Pocket PC like the iPAQ rz171x where every single wasted RAM byte counts. Please note that the pan and zoom capabilities for embedded graphics, which were really missing from old versions 3-4 years back compared to Mobi, have been added in a previous version of MS Reader, not in 2.4.1. The problems - it doesn't seem to have a built-in (!) portrait/landscape switcher, unlike Mobipocket Reader, which has had it for years. The homepage refers to 'Screen rotation capability between portrait and landscape modes for more natural, comfortable reading (Windows Mobile 2003 and above)', which I interpret as a built-in switcher – after all, WM2003 didn't have any. I'd ask, however, why no orientation change for PPC2k2 devices (if the app works at all on PPC2k2)? Mobipocket has always supported orientation changing even on the older platforms, not just on WM2003+. - it can't be installed on Pocket PC 2002 devices (tested on my iPAQ 3660 several times, even after a hard reset to be absolutely sure – no success), contrary to what the homepage of MS Reader says. - The shipped GuideBook.lit, containing the help of the app, is a very old version, well over 2 years old. (It's exactly the same as was shipped with, say, the WM2003 iPAQ 2210). That is, no wonder it doesn't have any recent information – for example, orientation change-wise. - As far as orientation changing is concerned, the homepage of MS Reader doesn't contain any related information either – the "Screen rotation" link is dead (it's pointing to 'file:///H|/info/features/rotate.asp'). The latter will surely be fixed quickly, though – I've reported several broken links to Microsoft and they have always acted promptly, unlike a lot of other companies I've reported broken links to. Bottom line - If you have a WM5 device and plan to read DRM books, it's a must - If you don't want to struggle with manual post-tweaking (icon creation, font file copying) with older versions, also prefer installing this version to previous ones Otherwise, it doesn't seem to have big improvements. (Again, built-in screen rotation may be it if the application does support it. I coulnd't find out how it can be done.) Furthermore, if you have a PPC2k2 device, stick with the older, still working MS Reader version (and make sure you don't delete the installer because it's no longer accessible on the MS homepage). Recommended links PPCT discussion AximSite discussion FirstLoox discussion iPAQ HQ discussion BH discussion EDIT: PPCT forum member Wiz has posted the URL to the Rotation page in the meantime. It seems MS Reader doesn't have built-in rotation capabilities. (Why the product homepage, then, mentions screen rotation support for the WM2003 and not just WM2003SE? Did they mean Nyditot? I don't know. After all, it's only with WM2003SE that the operating system started to natively support screen rotation.) EDIT 2 (15:19 CET): it seems (see the linked discussions) the WM5 activation process still has problems.