Codex and InkSeine -- the roots of Microsoft's Courier?
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted September 23rd 2009 10:54AM
posted September 23rd 2009 10:54AM
The article in question points to two very revealing projects within Microsoft's R&D labs that have marked similarities to the Courier. The first is its prototype tablet PC interface called InkSeine. InkSeine works on a strikingly similar premise to the UI shown in the demo video, including a heavy reliance on pages in "notebooks," and the ability to scrapbook pieces of websites by screen-capping certain areas. InkSeine also bares resemblance to the Courier interface in its use of circular context menus which surround bits of content. While there are clearly major differences, it's easy to see a lineage from this interface to the more polished iteration from the Courier demo.
InkSeine UI
Courier UI
The second item of note is Microsoft Research's Codex Project (a project we covered back in October of 2008). This is perhaps more remarkable than InkSeine, as it is a nearly identical two-screen tablet like the one shown in the demo. While the prototype version of this setup is much less polished and finalized than the render seen in that clip, it's clear that there is a connection at Microsoft to this piece of demo hardware, and the mocked-up version in the Courier video.
Most interesting of all is that these two projects have been put into play in tandem, with InkSeine running on the Codex Project's dual-screen tablet. Even photos from Microsoft's Codex page show the two projects used to compile what looks like an artist's scrapbook for a project -- almost the exact example used in the Courier demo. Whether or not Courier ever comes to light, seeing these two projects from Microsoft's recent research past tells us two things: the first is that it's very possible some physical prototype of the Courier does actually exist, and the second is that Microsoft has been plugging away at these ideas for some time now. With rumors that Redmond is planning something post-CES (and supposedly post Apple tablet), it might only be a matter of time.
[Thanks, Polo]
Read - Microsoft's Courier Tablet details
Read - Codex project
Read - InkSeine project
OMG! Windows got apple+shift+4... groundbreaking!
Now I can help my uncle defeat Dr. Claw once and for all!!!!!
Same problems as "surface computing" on anything bigger than a phone. I can type faster than I can write, and I can move my mouse (or swipe a trackpad) faster than I can move my arm across a screen.
It's bizarre that I've been copying stuff from my notes and pasting it into Google since the 90s with no fanfare but when this guy does it with a pen and a UI that looks like it was drawn in crayon, it's considered news.
You're looking at this wrong. It's not supposed to replace a computer with keyboard input but act as more of a companion to it. While you can enter plain text much faster on a keyboard, this is designed for methods where handwriting and a pen just work better. A scrapbook type setup as depicted in the video is a good example, but others are for teachers / students in the classroom, for graphic artists / designers, or other similar sorts of uses to the day planner type aspects shown in the video.
It obviously won't be for everyone, but for those who could use it, it looks great.
Amazing tech.
Gotta love Microsoft.
The first picture is an older picture of two oqo's put together in a leather booklet case to make it look like two monitors in one. They are thus two seperate computers, not linked to one another. Conincidentally they both are portraying inkseine with two different pages. I have yet to see an actual real life picture of a dual screen touchscreen portable computer. I think the microsoft rumor is as big as apple's.
Rumor? They released a video of it yesterday. This was just the research side of things.
Also Sony has made dual screen devices before in prototypes.
hahah two FAT units side by side so the total bundle is 2 inches thick, and when open, the screens are too far apart. Looks like typical microsoft concepts poorly realized. I'll wait for someone to make it thin and 'conjoined'.
Ah hell, just make it a single folding screen with some kind of division down the middle artificially created in software. THAT would be inventive and 'cool'.
"Prototype", read the comments about they explain the use of two OQO's during testing.
Codex InkSeine.... hmm why was I thinking Codeine Index?
On Con is that the HW looks a little too thick.
I hope they separate the software and hardware. This program would be awesome on my tablet. This should probably be something added to office. Although if they make sweet hardware (thats nichey for those apple fans) that is modestly priced (I can see this going for $450 and I dont think thats crazy) they might get the whole tablet market. Smart move waiting for appletablet to drop first.
You can download Inkseine right now for free.
Go do it. http://research.microsoft.com or a quick google search.
Microsoft is really becoming the real innovator over the last 10 years......something that APPLE used to be before they got obsessed with their iTUNES profits.
Way to go Microsoft.
Sweet
Project Blue Book? Except the "pages" are blue and not the cover.
I bet you know what steve ballmer is doing with his tongue now!!
Just what I've always wanted, a dual blue screen of death. Looks like MS is also looking to get out of the pc OS market. They better hope that these don't have the failure rate that the Xbox has had.
Very neat! I hope that they have some intelligent scrolling because as a onenote/inkseine user for sometime now it is VERY hard to take college/technical notes on a small screen. It just is.
The damn thing is way too complicated. Swirl to scroll up. These guys are trying to create EBCDIC all over again.