Microsoft just turned your conference-room whiteboard into an app.
Last December, Microsoft introduced a preview version of Whiteboard, a Windows 10 app that’s exactly what it sounds like: a digital version of the conference-room staple, with the ability for multiple people to scrawl notes and drawings and otherwise hash out ideas in a shared space. The company is now announcing general availability of the Windows app—which looks like a good way for pen-enabled PC tablets such as the Surface Pro to show their stuff—as well as an iOS version and a preview of a browser-based edition. Android is in the works, as well as integration with Microsoft’s Teams collaborative messaging app.
In a move that seems counter-intuitive, Microsoft is making the Windows version of Whiteboard available to anyone who has a free Microsoft account, but limiting the iOS and web versions to those who pay for an Office 365 plan aimed at businesses. The company says that this restriction exists “at this time,” so perhaps it plans on making the app more freely available at some point.