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Microsoft Readies Live Services Platform

Microsoft has said that getting third-party developers to build their own applications on top of its Web services will help push its Windows Live initiative over the top. So far, however, despite some interesting applications mashups, the Live community has been a little murky on the details.

Microsoft's MIX07 developers and designers conference, coming up at the end of April in Las Vegas, promises to be the venue where the company reveals more of its plans to make Windows Live into a bona fide "platform" for third-party developers. Now we're hearing the first hints of what Microsoft has in store.

"The fragmentation of the Web is a major source of dissatisfaction today...our vision is [to provide] a one stop shop," says Adam Sohn, director of worldwide sales and marketing in Microsoft's online services group.

Ultimately, the idea is to deliver a framework built on top of the diverse Windows Live APIs. Developers can expect the APIs in that framework to comprise two fairly distinct categories -- infrastructure (identity, relationships, storage, etc.) and applications (instant messaging, search, mail/calendar, etc).

How will it all play out? Microsoft officials have repeatedly answered that question with "wait for MIX07." In the meantime, we'll explore the Live development platform a bit further in the February issue of Redmond Developer News magazine.

About the Author

Stuart J. Johnston has covered technology, especially Microsoft, since February 1988 for InfoWorld, Computerworld, Information Week, and PC World, as well as for Enterprise Developer, XML & Web Services, and .NET magazines.

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