Microsoft Readies Project Austin: A Digital Note Taking App For Windows 8

Back in 2010, Microsoft was contemplating a dual-screen notebook tablet under the Courier project. Eventually, the project was trashed and the notebook tablet could never see the day’s light. It now seems that the whole idea behind the Courier project may have a bit of a comeback in a Windows 8 app called ‘Project Austin.’


Project Austin

Project Austin is essentially a digital note-taking app. But while there are a multitude of note-taking apps out in the wild, Austin is different in that it provides you a whole host of options to tweak your notes and interact with them.

For instance, on this app, you can add new pages to your note, even move them around. You can also make use of digital ink to pen down things in your own writing, perhaps draw doodles on the go.

Moreover, you can add photos to this app straight from your SkyDrive or your computer. Once you have created notes using Austin app, you can then share these notes on other Windows 8 apps as well as email them to others.

Currently, Microsoft’s Visual C++ Team is working on Project Austin. According to a blog post by the team, “Austin aims to demonstrate with real code the kind of device-optimized, fluid and responsive user experience that can be built with our newest native tools on the Windows8 platform.”

Essentially, the philosophy behind Project Austin is to furnish a digital equivalent of the actual notebook and pen that we ordinarily use in our lives.

The source code of the app has been made available for download. You can lay your hands on it here.

Source: MSDN

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Salman

Salman Latif is a software engineer with a specific interest in social media, big data and real-world solutions using the two.Other than that, he is a bit of a gypsy. He also writes in his own blog. You can find him on Google+ and Twitter .

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