Microsoft sent me a report that our Windows 8.1 tablet app is having a
crash-on-launch bug with today's featured articles; I've applied a quick
fix and am submitting it to the Windows Store for update.
This app was originally a prototype which I figured we'd rewrite if there
was continued demand, but Windows 8/8.1 tablet apps just haven't taken the
world by storm so far and we've not put work into it in a while... but it
does have a non-zero maintenance cost picking up these little bugs.
We may want to make sure we have an actual measure of its traffic usage
before making a decision, but we don't think it's very high right now...
A few possibilities:
1) Officially support the app for Windows 8.1 tablets, add support for
Windows Phone 8.1, and continue to work on updating and improving the app
alongside Android and iOS.
2) Transition it to an unofficial app "in-place", and I'll poke at phone
support, media playback, and UI experiments on my own time.
3) Pick an official end-of-life date and kill it off entirely. If and when
I or someone else want to make an unofficial version they can pick up the
source and create a new app entry for people to download.
Based on low demand and limited resources, I think we can safely throw out
1), so the choice is between 2) or 3).
-- brion