Technology

Apple made a range of announcements at WWDC 2018 that put accessibility at the core of the company's mission. So, developers no longer have any excuse to avoid using the accessibility tools the company provides.

Empowerment matters

The focus is highly visible in the latest Mac and iOS releases (available this fall), which bring a range of smaller accessibility improvements.

Whatimportant about that is that in doing so, Apple is solving problems other platforms have not yet begun to address at a core platform level.

Did you notice what was missing at Apple2018 WWDC There wasn&t a single new Mac model to be seen. Not a one.

True, Craig Federighi, Applesenior vice president of software engineering,tried to lay to rest rumors that Apple would merge the iOS and macOS operating systems, saying, &We love the Mac and macOS because itexplicitly created for Mac hardware like the trackpad.&

But the Mac lineup hasn&t been associated with true innovation for years, even before Tim Cook took over as CEO. Not having a new Mac model to show off to its assembled developers doesn&t seem like a fluke.

Microsoft has quietly told customers that it will stop participating in the online support forums devoted to consumer questions about Windows 7 and a host of other products.

The announcement, which Microsoft posted over the weekend to several of the affected support forums, said the change would take place next month.

"Effective July 2018, the Microsoft Community forums listed below will shift support scope and Microsoft staff will no longer provide technical support there," the identical messages stated. "There will be no proactive reviews, monitoring, answering or answer marking of questions."