Hi!  I'm Christine from the Microsoft Reader team.  Some of you may know me from some of the other device forums like PocketPCThoughts, Aximsite or the Microsoft.Public.Reader newsgroup under the name MSReadergirl.

I know that many of you have been waiting for a long time for this download and we apologize for the wait but we hope you'll think it is worth it. 

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=2213D032-F1AF-4FE4-A1A0-B895A35F743B&displaylang=en

Some of you have had a chance to give it a try if you purchased a Vista preinstalled Origami.  For those that have, we hope that you are enjoying your reading experience.  For those that had to wait, we have tried to give it a few "extras"  -- features like:

• Support for Windows XP Tablet PC edition devices (UMPC only)
• Audible support for the newer audio formats
• Security and Performance updates

For those of you who have already tried it, you may have discovered some of the improvements we implemented to optimize this experience for the UMPC device platform. 

We have added page navigation touch points on the left and right hand margins, where the hand naturally falls when reading.  This works in both landscape and portrait device modes. 

 These touch points are considered "Guides" and can be turned off under the "Settings" section of the Reader.

In landscape mode we have enlarged the screen to allow you a full reading experience.  We feel that this is an improvement over the previous Tablet PC Reader experience where the screen rendered only a Pocket PC size screen, wasting all of that valuable real estate.

In addition we have also enlarged the "'riffle" control that results when you tap on the page number at the bottom of the page.  This navigation panel is now tailored to using your fingertips to access the screen elements. 



Context menus have also increased in size to allow you better access during your reading experience.

For those of you who are Audible fans, you will discover that this new version supports Audible's newer audio formats.  This is a feature that was not enabled on the OEM release of the Optimized Reader.  We have tried to keep the same look and feel for Audible files as the controls already appeared optimized for touch based systems.

In addition to these new features you will find that your favorite features are still available in Microsoft Reader.  Annotations - such as bookmarks, text notes, highlights and inking controls are all still available but many have been updated to accomodate easier touch based interaction.  The "Find" and "Lookup" features are still available but have larger buttons for more clear action selection.

In short we hope that you will find that this Reader provides the same great reading experience you have come to rely on and that the Origami device is a natural addition to our reading device family.

As always your feedback is welcome and encouraged as it helps us develop better products to meet your needs. 

Sincerely,

Christine - Microsoft Reader Team

For your Microsoft Reader support needs please visit http://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.aspx?LN=en-us&gprid=2748&x=6&y=8