Microsoft-News.com reports that there were leaked information a week ago, that Microsoft were about to release versions of OneNote for both Mac and Windows desktop – and it happened yesterday, when the Redmond firm delivered free versions of its note-taking and organizational applications. The company expands its support of the OneNote platform to keep up with competitors, such as Evernote, in areas of organizational tools and note-taking.

First Time for Mac

It is the first OneNote to be available for Mac OS X, and to stay in the Mac App Store as a free download. Previously, the app was only available for Windows Phone, Windows 8, Windows desktop, iOS, Android, and the Web, where it is also known as OneNote Online, formerly called OneNote WebApp.

Windows Desktop Version

OneNote for Windows desktop is also available as a free download from OneNote.com. Just like the Mac OS X version, this is the first time for Windows desktop to get a free version of OneNote. Users of older versions of Windows had to pay for the app as part of the Microsoft Office suite.

However, this free version of OneNote does not include some features of the paid version. For instance, SharePoint support is not built in. The free version is however not a trial or temporary version, it is ad-free and limited only for school and home use. It can be upgraded to the paid version to get all the features.

Other Versions

Redmond is also working on an updated new version of OneNote for Windows 8 which will become a part of the "Gemini" suite of apps. Another expectation is the updated OneNote for iPad version, as part of Office for iPad. This is expected to come very soon.

Microsoft has opened the OneNote service available at OneNote.com to third-party developers by having an interface for cloud programming to which applications can connect. New available versions of the cloud programming interface includes OneNote Clipper (allows user to save to OneNote Web pages), new me@ontenote.com (an email to send to OneNote), and Office Lens (optical character recognition for capturing whiteboards and docs with Windows Phone and send to OneNote).