Windows Live is Back...Sorta -- Visual Studio Magazine

Desmond File

Windows Live is Back...Sorta

Contrary to popular reports, some fueled by our own Stuart Johnston, Microsoft's once-loudly touted Live effort hasn't hit the skids. As reported in her blog by regular Redmond Developer News contributor Mary Jo Foley, Microsoft has once again begun talking about the Live platform, specifically during briefings at the CES show in Las Vegas.

In her posting, Mary Jo recounts that Microsoft adCenter will sit at the foundation of two freshly minted categories of Live APIs focused on infrastructure (identity, relationship, storage, communications, payment/points, advertising and domain APIs) and application services (instant-messaging/VoIP, search, blogging, mapping, mail/calendar and classifieds).

When I asked Mary Jo about her thoughts on the change, she said the key thing was the position of adCenter in all this. Before, Microsoft's ad serving engine was an optional component of the Live development platform stack. Now it's cooked into the foundation. This looks like Microsoft Technology Marketing 101. Leverage one product to open an opportunity for another.

All this is still early action -- Microsoft won't roll out a finished vision until the Mix 07 conference in April -- but the larger statement is clear. Microsoft Live, and the Live development platform, are back.

What are your thoughts? Do you plan to kick the Live tires and perhaps start building online services using the new dev platform? E-mail me at [email protected].

Posted by Michael Desmond on 01/10/2007

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