Looks like it was announced at the beginning of April.
Microsoft engages in “Digital Rights Management” software (which is a semi-Orwellian euphemistic term) that means its readers are sabotaged by design, to only let you see content if the software thinks you have the right to it, and to try to maintain control of that answer, it operates Internet servers that answer that question.
Well, Microsoft accountants determined Microsoft wasn’t profiting enough from a department selling ebooks, and shut down that department, including the DRM server, activating the sabotage for everyone for all books.
They’re offering a refund for people who care, notice, understand, and jump through hoops to get it, but in the case of “free” books, that means you get nothing but frustration.
“In shutting down its ebook store, Microsoft once again shows how in the modern era, you no longer actually own the things you buy.”
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/3k3wkk/microsoft-ebooks-will-stop-working-because-its-shutting-down-a-drm-server