Open APIs May Help Microsoft Repair Reputation
Today's news could, if played correctly, repair the long-held notion in the industry that Microsoft is a proprietary bully that buries anyone who jumps in its sandbox.
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22.2.2008 Vista SP1 to Include Common Security APIs for Partners
A spokesperson for Microsoft Thursday evening characterized as "grossly inaccurate" reports from earlier in the day, including from Reuters, stating that a technical glitch in the company's Live Meeting services led to a dissolution of a meeting between Microsoft and security products vendors.
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21.10.2006 Windows 7 Filtering Platform New Features
Interested in building networking filtering applications tailored to the next iteration of the Windows client? Then you need to get up to date with the new features that have been added to Windows Filtering Platform for Windows 7.
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3.7.2009 Bill Gates: Office Is a Platform too, Not Just Windows
In an effort to underline the relevance of the Office System as a platform for developers and not just an application, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates introduced during his keynote address at the Office System Developers Conference 2008, in San Jose, new software, services and tools designed to make Office an equivalent of Windows.
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12.2.2008 Microsoft starts Windows Network Developer Platform beta
Windows Network Developer Platform
Windows Network Developer Platform encompasses technologies such as Winsock, WinINet, HTTP Server API and WinHTTP. HTTP Server APIs (also known as HTTP.sys) is the kernel mode HTTP server stack in Windows that provides user-mode Win32 APIs.
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Windows Live Calendar, Presence coming soon to a dev platform near you
With its official announcement of the "Windows Live platform beta" at Mix '07 this week, Microsoft made available to developers a number of application programming interfaces (APIs) and controls upon which they can build their own applications and mashups.
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2.5.2007 Microsoft Urges Users Stop Using Safari In Windows Platform
Microsoft's security team is advising users to stop using Apple's Safari browser pending investigation into a quirk that allows miscreants to litter their desktop with hundreds of executable files.
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2.6.2008 New Platform in Windows 7 Enables Remote Connectivity to Virtual Desktops
Even though Microsoft is yet to officially breathe a single word on the matter, the virtualization capabilities of Windows 7 will also evolve in comparison to what is offered with Windows Vista today.
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3.7.2008 Intel to take 'Averill' to market as Centrino-like platform
Intel will next year launch its third branded PC platform, after Centrino and Viiv, this time pitched at corporate desktops.
As yet there's no word on the platform's go-to-market brandname, but it will almost certainly be based on Intel's 'Averill' platform. Averill was announced at the chip giant's Developer Forum in March this year for availability in 2006.
Averill is based on Intel's upcoming 'Broadwater' chipset, which will ship primarily as the 965 family, but also as the 946 and 963 product lines, it is believed. The platform also takes in Intel's next-generation Gigabit Ethernet controller, 'Nineveh', and its 65nm dual- and single-core Pentium D and Pentium 4 6xx processors.
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1.12.2005 Microsoft Showcases Platform Strategy and Opportunity
Q&A: Tomorrow's triple launch of business availability of Windows Vista, 2007 Office system and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 underscores Microsofts ongoing commitment to providing customers and partners with even greater platform opportunities.
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30.11.2006 Microsoft readies a consumer healthcare platform
Microsoft has made no secret about the fact it has designs on being a healthcare-IT contender. But what the company has kept under wraps, at least until now, was what it planned to do on the consumer side of the healthcare space.
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2.7.2007 Microsoft updates MSN Video Platform Beta
Microsoft refreshed its video platform today with a new beta version of MSN Video. The updated site reflects the design, layout and features of Soapbox, Microsoft's answer to Google's user-generated video site YouTube.com.
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27.4.2007 Microsoft to Deliver a Platform Agnostic Standard for Virtualization
Microsoft is cooperating with rivals from Vmware, XenSource and IBM, but also with partners on the server market such as Dell and HP in order to deliver a single standard for portable virtual machines.
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10.9.2007 Intel to launch Calpella notebook platform in 3Q09
Intel's next-generation notebook platform (Calpella) is scheduled to launch in the third quarter of 2009.
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5.8.2008 Microsoft add cheaper server platform to range
According to an article by Techspot, Microsoft has announced a version of Windows designed for small businesses, named Windows Server 2008 Foundation.
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1.4.2009 Windows Embedded NavReady 2009 - Latest Windows Platform from Microsoft
The latest Windows operating system is available for download as of June 16, 2008. And no, it's not a new release of Windows 7, nor the first taste of Windows 7 Server.
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16.6.2008 Intel to launch new Core 2 Extreme CPU for Skulltrail platform
Intel is planning to launch a new desktop processor for its upcoming Skulltrail motherboard, a high-end enthusiast and gaming platform, according to sources at motherboard makers.
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16.10.2007 New Windows 7-Based Platform: Windows Embedded Server
Microsoft is not only hard at work laboring to produce the first Release Candidate of Windows 7, but it is also looking beyond the next iterations of the Windows client and server operating systems.
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31.3.2009 MS to unify MSN, Xbox and Zune with Ignition music platform
Microsoft Corp. today announced the launch of Ignition, a new program that gives recording artists with new releases a unique channel to reach tens of millions of consumers, whether they are browsing music online, playing games or catching up on the latest news.
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6.6.2007 Microsoft Denies Having Updated Vista's Anti-Piracy Platform or the WGA
Microsoft denied having introduced any sort of updates to the anti-piracy platform built into its latest operating system, Windows Vista or to the Windows Genuine Advantage mechanism designed to safeguard over the legitimacy of the copies of the operating system.
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12.9.2007 Windows Mobile 7, the Next-Generation Mobile Platform
We all know Microsoft's Windows Mobile platform, if not from using it, at least from what we've heard about it.
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15.3.2009 Microsoft Showcases Platform Advancements in the 2007 Microsoft Office System
Second annual Microsoft Office System Developers Conference highlights opportunity for custom solutions development utilizing innovations in the 2007 release.
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23.3.2006 Vista SP1, and then Windows 7, Windows 8 and Non-Windows Midori
2008 saw the release of Windows Vista Service Pack 1, Windows XP Service Pack 3 and Windows Server 2008, but Microsoft's journey on the Windows path is far from over.
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5.8.2008 Windows 7 RC Brings Windows XP Mode Beta and Windows Virtual PC Beta
The Release Candidate of Windows 7 will bring with it the first Beta development milestones for Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC.
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29.4.2009 Windows Reactivator 2.0 - Backup & Restore Activation Status of Windows XP with Windows Reactivator
Every time you reinstall your windows XP you need to reactivate it online using your product key & worst if you lost your Windows XP product key.
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3.6.2009 Windows Vista SP1 vs. Windows Vista RTM vs. Windows XP SP2
Feb 26th, 2008. Principled Technologies has released two Microsoft commissioned reports on Windows Vista SP1 performance. In these tests, Principled Technologies measured responsiveness of Windows Vista SP1 vs. Windows Vista RTM vs. Windows XP SP2 when performing a set of common business and home tasks.
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28.2.2008 Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 9 1 Billion and Counting
Is Windows dead? Or, at least, is this the beginning of the end for Microsoft's proprietary operating system?
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15.9.2008 Week in Microsoft: Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 9
This week in Microsoft, we covered 128-bit support possibly coming to Windows 8 and Windows 9, Windows 7, Windows Mobile 6.5, Bill Gates, Office 2010 Starter, Microsoft MVP status, Windows Live Hotmail, the EU, and Microsoft Security Essentials.
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10.10.2009 Windows Vista Build 5231 and Windows Media Player 11 Leaks!
Windows Vista Build 5231 has leaked to the web. The new build is said to include Windows Media Player 11 included. View the screenshots below! This is a Main branch build that was released on September 12th, 2005 at 8:20PM.
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Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3: Official Release Dates
A French website, PC Inpact, has posted the official Microsoft product change request forms for Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3.
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6.2.2008New NX APIs added to Windows Vista SP1, Windows XP SP3 and Windows Server 2008
Michael Howard: In the interests of helping secure the platform, we want more people to opt-in to using Data Execution Prevention (aka DEP aka NX),
and we have lowered the barrier to entry for application developers in Windows Vista SP1, Windows XP SP3 and Windows Server 2008.
We've added some new APIs that allow a developer to set DEP on their process at runtime rather than using linker options. The new APIs also give
developers some more flexibility if your application uses an older version of the Abstract Type Library (ATL.) Before I explain the new APIs, let me
give you a little history behind ATL and NX.
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30.01.2008Kodak Designs New CMOS Sensor
Eastman Kodak Company revealed today in a press release that it has created the world’s first 1.4 micron, 5 megapixel device, the KAC-05020
Image Sensor. Using significantly smaller pixels, this sensor enables a higher level of resolution in small optical formats which will be especially
useful in devices like cellphones: the sensor allows for full 720p video at 30fps in a quarter-inch camera. Unlike other small-pixel sensors which can
produce poor images, especially under low light conditions, the 1.4 micron pixel used in the KAC-05020 is reportedly able to provide image quality
that can equal or surpass what is available from current devices using larger, 1.75 micron pixel CMOS designs.
Read full story.....
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05.02.2008Showcasing Windows 7 Platform with Applets
This blog post discusses some of the platform innovations in Windows 7 and how Windows 7 applications have adopted and showcased these innovations.
This post details some of the platform features that developers and partners can expect in Windows 7 and how Windows 7 programs have showcased these
innovations. This post also discusses how applications have been given a facelift both in terms of their functionality as well as their user
experience by focusing on key Windows design principles and platform innovations. Finally, this post can serve as a pointer or guide to application
developers and ISVs to get themselves familiar with some of the key new Windows platform innovations, see them in action and then figure out how they
can build on these APIs for their own software.
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28.01.2009Are all open Web platforms created equal?
There's been a lot of talk lately about various Web platform vendors opening up their programming interfaces in order to make their offerings more
readily customizable and programmable.
Facebook has opened up its
social-networking platform to developers. Google is
poised
to open its Orkut social-networking application programming interface (API) to allow third-party developers to write plug-in apps. MySpace has
been said to be opening (and then, not ready yet to open) its APIs.
Who isn’t mentioned in any of these conversations?
Microsoft. Is it because Microsoft hasn’t opened up its various Windows Live APIs to other developers? Nope. Microsoft announced in late April
its plans for
opening up and providing licensing terms for several of its key Windows Live
APIs, including Windows Live Contacts, Windows Live Spaces Photo Control and Windows Live Data Protocols.
So why is Microsoft
seemingly irrelevant to the conversation, when it comes to opening up its Web platform? There are a few different theories...
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16.10.2007AOL Opens Up AIM Phoneline
Platform
AOL said Thursday that it
would open up its voice over
IP platform to developers in
an effort to spur development
of new functionality and
hardware that utilizes its AIM
Phoneline service. The company
plans to release three APIs to
share various features...
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07.09.2006Windows 7 Graphics Architecture Overview
Windows 7 includes many new updates and improvements to the Graphics stack, including a new set of APIs for 2D graphics and writing text. Among the
improvements are a major reduction in memory consumption by the DWM and new more efficient ways to combine the different available APIs. Join David
Blythe, a senior architect in the Desktop and Graphics team, and Yochay Kiriaty, Technical Evangelist for a quick tour of Windows 7 Graphics
architecture, its different components, and how they affect and improve the user experience in Windows 7. Discover whats new in Windows 7 Graphics and
how developer can tap into the new APIs.
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06.05.2009Google admits breaking App Store rules
Google acknowledged breaking the official rules of Apple's iPhone software development kit when it created the latest version of the Google Mobile
application for the iPhone, but denied a more serious charge.
A Google spokesman confirmed Tuesday that
Google Mobile uses undocumented APIs (application programming
interfaces) in order to use the iPhone's proximity sensor to prompt a verbal search. iPhone developers were only supposed to use the APIs that
Apple published in its SDK when they create their applications under the terms of that agreement.
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26.11.2008Accessibility in Windows 7
Steven Sinofsky: This post is from Michael Bernstein, a development lead on the User Interface Platform team where he focuses on accessibility.
Accessibility is the term we apply to the APIs and features that enable Windows to be used, to be accessible, by as many people as possible so that,
regardless of physical or cognitive abilities, everyone has the ability to access the functions of Windows. To enable this, Windows includes both
built-in accessibility utilities as well as APIs used by third party assistive technology aids and by application developers to make sure their
software is also accessible. This is a topic that is extremely important to Microsoft and one that is a key tenet in the engineering of Windows 7.
Microsoft also has a corporate-wide group dedicated to making sure that PCs are easier to see, hear, and use. You can read more about Microsofts
accessibility initiatives on
http://www.microsoft.com/enable/.
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01.12.2008Xinput Driver for Microsoft
Common Controller (64 Bit)
The Microsoft Common
Controller Driver is a new
game input
standard that
is used for both the Xbox360
console and for
Windows XP
SP1 and above.
The Xbox360
controller or any controllers
that utilize this
standard
will enable the device to be
used on Windows also.
This
Redistributable Package
includes the driver for
hardware
vendors to
redistribute with their
hardware. For the most
current APIs of the
Microsoft Common Controller,
please
download the latest
DX SDK. These APIs are called
Xinput
APIs. Source and
Download: Xinput Driver for
Microsoft
Common
Controller (64 Bit)..
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07.06.200610 Online Storage APIs
If you offer an online storage service, its becoming increasingly important to offer an API to it. With this months addition of the
DigitalBucket API, we now have
10 storage APIs in our listings. Some of these services focus on the API
first (or only in the case of Amazon S3), others offer free and pro level consumer accounts as well as a developer API. The APIs have been used to
integrated with operating system tools (Windows, Mac, Linux), provide direct access to other online services like document and spreadsheet apps,
browser extensions, or to provide storage infrastructure for multimedia files like photos and videos. Heres a summary of these 10 storage APIs...
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26.11.2007Windows 7 Sensors Framework interview from PDC
Bryant: During my time at PDC, I managed to speak with many people knowledgeable about various aspects of Windows 7. One of these people was Dan
Polivy, a lead on the team behind the new Windows 7 sensors framework which was mentioned a number of times during the old days when Windows 7
speculation was rampant. Dan and I carried an informative interview regarding a number of functions of the Windows 7 sensors framework, including
topics such as how easy it might be for a user to receive sensor data from sensors which are plugged into the framework as well as what one could do
with various forms of sensor data, such as locational input from WiFi triangulation and GPS signals.
If youre a developer,
watching this video would be a wise decision; were doing something special for those who watch, so stay tuned.
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05.11.2008Google announces Android 2.0 platform
Google has announced today the new Android 2.0 platform. Android 2.0 brings new developer APIs for sync, Bluetooth, and some other areas. Developers
can now write applications to enable users to sync their devices to various contact sources. With the new Bluetooth API, developers can easily add
peer-to-peer connectivity or gaming to their applications.
Read full story.....
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27.10.2009Windows Virtualization Hypercall APIs available via OSP
Microsoft today announced that it will extend the
Open Specification
Promise to the hypercall application programmers interface (API) within Windows Server virtualization (codename Viridian), and will be available
when Windows Server virtualization is released to manufacturing (RTM). In the interim, today Microsoft posted an updated draft of the hypercall API to
Microsofts
website so that partners can continue to have
early access to this important development interface. Microsoft first distributed hypercall API draft documentation to attendees of Windows Hardware
Engineering Conference 2006.
The hypercall API enables partners to develop solutions with Windows Server virtualization allowing
customers to achieve dynamic IT environments. These APIs are available for use by any organization seeking to integrate or extend their software
with Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server virtualization.
"The majority of our customers have mixed-source environments, and
they want their platform vendors to make things work together," said Roger Levy, senior vice president and general manager, Open Platform Solutions
at Novell. "That's why we entered into a technical collaboration agreement with Microsoft. As a result, Novell is the first vendor to develop and
ship technology that will allow a paravirtualized Windows Server 2008 to be hosted as a guest on the Xen hypervisor. Microsoft's decision to put the
hypercall API under their Open Specifications Promise will make it even easier for Novell, our customers and partners, and the entire open source
community to develop high-quality virtualization solutions that deliver true interoperability between Windows and Linux."..
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24.10.2007Google announces Google Code Labs
For those developers who are interested in some of what Google has to offer, you now have the chance to utilize some of their upcoming product's
APIs for your own use. Google's Code Labs is a website in which all of Google's early products can be found, and it is available now, and
will feature two sets of APIs. One will be features currently still in the Labs, and require more testing and modification, and the others will be
listed as 'Lab Graduates', obviously meaning they are ready for release. There are currently some interesting products available for use, such
as Desktop and Feedburner APIs, both yet to graduate from the Labs.
Read full story.....
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04.03.2009Windows Azure SDK (October 2008 CTP)
The Azure Services Platform is designed to help developers quickly and easily create, deploy, manage, and distribute web services and applications on
the Internet. Windows Azure is an operating system for the cloud that serves as the development, run-time, and control environment for the Azure
Services Platform. Windows Azure provides developers on-demand compute & storage to host, scale, and manage web applications on the internet through
Microsoft data centers.
Windows Azure is elastic, flexible, and interoperable. With Windows Azure developers can achieve high
levels of service availability and application interoperability while maintaining freedom of choice.
The Windows Azure SDK
provides developers with the tools and APIs needed to develop, deploy, and manage scalable services in Windows Azure.
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28.10.2008Microsoft Shares Draft of Vista Security Hooks
In response to earlier
Symantec and McAfee complaints
and 2 months after a promise
to deliver, Microsoft has
issued a first draft of
programming interfaces for
kernel protection features in
the 64-bit version of Windows
Vista. The software giant
believes that to maintain OS
security it should not
release, and has never before
released, something of this
importance, but because of
antitrust concerns in Europe
and Korea, the company had no
choice. Microsoft stated that
the new Application
Programming Interfaces (APIs)
will allow extended
functionality of Vista's
64-bit kernel.
Security companies have
unregulated access in 32-bit
versions. Nonetheless, in the
64-bit version of Vista
PatchGuard protects the user
from hackers. Security
companies, however, insist
that it blocks them out as
well. Although the APIs are
available to nonsecurity
makers, Microsoft persists
that the protection offered by
PatchGuard will not be
disabled or weakened by the
APIs. So far, Symantec has
acknowledged they have
received the APIs but do not
have an opinion while McAfee
seems pleased with
Microsoft's effort. Final
versions of the APIs are
slated to be released with SP1
for Windows Vista, which
Gartner expects in early
2008.
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21.12.2006Google violates iPhone API guidelines
Google has recently released a new version of it's Google Mobile application for the iPhone. This is the first time Google has made voice search
available on a mobile device (Google Android users were not the first). In order to initiate a search, the iPhone is placed by your ear, as if making
a call. The iPhone's proximity sensor detects this and the voice search initiates. While seemingly harmless, Apple has prohibited developers from
using the iPhone's proximity sensor, and therefore never released an API for it. Google has, in effect, violated the App Store guidelines.
Read full story.....
neowin.net -
27.11.2008Live Search QnA moves to MSN platform
Back in 2005 Windows Live was announced and many products were moved from the MSN platform to the Windows Live platform. New products and services
were announced including Windows Live QnA. The service name explains it all. Windows Live QnA is a community of users from around the globe asking and
answering about anything and everything. When the Windows Live QnA beta first launched it was it's own service on the Windows Live platform, but
then moved to the Live Search platform and is now known as Live Search QnA. The move helped gain thousands of new contributors engaging in the
community.
Read full story.....
neowin.net -
18.02.2009Gnomedex speaker challenges Microsoft on APIs
The opening session here at
the Gnomedex conference in
Seattle this morning is by
Robert Steele, a former Marine
Corps intelligence officer,
CEO of OSS.Net Inc. and, as he
describes himself, "the
world's most pissed-off end
user."
Among other things, Steele
disputed Bill Gates' past
characterization of
open-source software as
"communist." Responded
Steele: "If open-source
software is communist, then
Microsoft is fascist, and I'm
sorry, I know they're a
sponsor here. I'm here to
offer Microsoft a deal. We'll
let them live if they go to
open, transparent application
program interfaces, dump Vista
and start over. Lot of good at
Microsoft."
Application programming
interfaces, or APIs, are the
hooks that software developers
use to connect their programs
to Windows. Microsoft has long
faced allegations about using
undocumented APIs to give its
own application developers an
advantage over outside
developers in working with
Windows. I've heard Microsoft
executives say that they've
cracked down on the
practice.
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10.08.2007Microsoft Shares Windows Live APIs
Microsoft on Monday launched a
new version of its Windows
Live developer Web site,
complete with controls to
build the company's services
into third-party products...
betanews.com -
01.05.2007
