Open Live Writer is a fork of Windows Live Writer, which is based on Onfolio Writer,[2] a product Microsoft obtained from the acquisition of Onfolio in 2006. The Onfolio Writer team worked together with the Windows Live Spaces team to release Windows Live Writer.[3] After the release of Windows 8, Microsoft encouraged the team responsible for the software to focus on Metro-style apps, and the last major version of Windows Live Writer was released in 2012.[3]
On June 12, 2014, Scott Hanselman announced the idea of making Windows Live Writer open-source.[4] Nearly a year later, it appeared that open-sourcing the program was approved by Microsoft.[5] Later that year, .NET Foundation announced an open-source fork of Windows Live Writer.[3]
Initial announcement
On December 9, 2015, Scott Hanselman announced the forking of Microsoft's Windows Live Writer as an open-source project called Open Live Writer.[6] The announcement notes that the original Windows Live Writer 2012 application will remain a property of Microsoft and will continue to be offered as part of Windows Essentials while Open Live Writer will be developed independently as a separate project as part of .NET Foundation.[7] A downloadable preview version of the application was offered the same day[8] alongside the full source code on GitHub.[9]
On 27 September 2016, Open Live Writer became available on Windows Store.[10]
