by david.treadwell via Windows Live for Developers on 8/21/2009 2:39:00 PM
Hi Everyone,
I wanted to give you some important updates on our developer services as we prepare for the next release of Windows Live. We are focused on making the next release of Windows Live the very best for you. Our vision is to provide you with deeper access to the more than 500M Windows Live users and a more consistent programming interface for both our services and controls. We want to make it as easy as possible to consume and use Windows Live capabilities in your solutions.
At the Professional Developer Conference 2008, we gave the developer community access to the technical preview of the Live Framework. The Live Framework is core to our vision of providing you with a consistent programming interface. Now we are working to integrate existing services, controls and the Live Framework into the next release of Windows Live. Your feedback continues to help us build the best possible offerings for Windows Live users, for you and for your customers.
There will be some changes to services and controls you may use today, in particular the Live Framework CTP, making them unavailable starting September 8th. These changes may affect you and your development work and we want to ensure that you take appropriate action to secure your work and make adjustments to existing implementations of the affected services.
Starting September 8th, 2009, the following services will be unavailable:
If you are a Live Framework technology preview user, we ask you to please download any data and/or code from the service prior to September 8th as well as remove your devices from the service. If you are using any of the controls, we ask that you please remove them from your site prior to September 8th. For more details see the Q&A at the bottom of this post.
There's also some updates on the future of the Bing ASP.NET Map Control CTP (formerly Virtual Earth ASP.NET Map Control CTP); to learn more, please visit the Bing Maps Blog.
Please note that Live Mesh will continue to remain available to end users and is not affected.
Thanks again to everyone for your participation and feedback. Stay tuned to this space for updates and more details on the platform capabilities of the next release of Windows Live.
Q&A
Q: I'm a user of the Live Framework CTP, do I need to do anything prior to the Live Framework CTP being taken offline? A: Microsoft asks that if you have any data and/or codebase/solutions running in the Live Framework CTP that you please move it to a local hard-drive. If you have several devices that are "claimed" as part of your Live Framework CTP account, we ask that you please remove any of these devices. To do this, go to each device that you have as part of your Live Framework CTP service, click the Start Menu, then Control Panel, then Add/Remove programs, select Live Framework CTP, and uninstall. This will remove your device from the Live Framework, and retain any files and/or folders you had synchronized on the device itself.
Q: Will I still be able to access my Live Framework CTP solutions after this preview is taken offline? A: No.
Q: Will Microsoft retain any data and/or solutions that are currently available on the Live Framework CTP? A: Microsoft will not retain any data and/or solutions that are a part of the Live Framework CTP offering.
Q: What is changing in the Live Services developer portal (live.azure.com)?
A: The ability to create Live Framework-enabled web sites and Mesh-enabled web applications will be removed. It will not be possible to edit the settings of Live Framework-enabled web sites and Mesh-enabled web applications and Analytics because these applications won't be available any longer. Live Framework CTP tokens will no longer be valid and can be discarded.
Q: What will happen to my Live Framework-enabled web sites and Mesh-enabled web application Application IDs?
A: Your Live Framework-enabled web sites and Mesh-enabled web application Application IDs will get re-imported the next time you log into the portal after the CTP discontinuation. You can either use these Application IDs to connect to the Live Services Existing APIs or delete them.
Q: What will happen to my web site if I am using the Contacts Control?
A: Starting September 8 the contacts control will render on your site with an error message. Users of your web site will see the following statement: "This control is no longer supported, please contact your site administrator for more information." Starting September 8 the control will no longer be available or render.
Q: What can I use in lieu of the Live Framework Contacts resource?
A: You can still use the Windows Live Contacts API Beta.
Q: What can I use in lieu of the Contacts Control?
A: You can use the contacts picker control that is part of the Windows Live Messenger Toolkit.
Q: Will the permissions granted to my site by users for accessing contacts data be lost?
A: Yes. Users of your web site will have to go through the Contact Picker control's permission flows to re-establish access to their contacts data from you site.
Q: What will happen to my site if I am using the ASP.NET server controls from Windows Live Tools?
A: The ASP.NET control will keep working but we are no longer supporting it going forward. If you are using it in combination with the Contacts Control then the Contacts Control will stop working on September 8 (see above for more details). All other underlying controls (ID Login, Messenger, Silverlight, and VE Maps) will continue to work.
Q: Are the Silverlight Streaming Services being discontinued or just the wrapping ASP.NET controls?
A: Only the controls which wrap the Silverlight Streaming Service will be discontinued.
Q: What can I use in lieu of IDLoginStatus and IDLoginView Control?
A: You can make use of Windows Live ID Web Authentication service. Only IDLoginStatus and IDLoginView control is being discontinued.
Q: What will happen to the Windows Live Web Role template for Windows Azure?
A: The template is no longer supported and will not work with the current version of Windows Azure Tools.
Q; By Microsoft taking the Live Framework CTP offline does this mean that my LiveID account also will be unavailable? A: You can continue to use your LiveID account to access the other Windows Live services you care about, including the Live Mesh beta.
Q: If I want to stay informed on updates regarding Live Framework, where should I go?
A: Visit http://dev.live.com to stay up to date with Live Framework.
Q: What role do developers play in the future development of Mesh technologies?
A: This is an exciting journey for all of us and your commitment and feedback helps us build the best possible offerings for our customers and for you. Our commitment to the great developer community is stronger than ever, and we are looking forward hearing more of your feedback in the future.
Original Post: Important Updates to Live Services
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