The head of Microsoft's Windows Live Platform Services group has offered an early description of services and tools that Microsoft will release at this week's Mix08 Web conference.
Dave Treadwell is part of a team assembled by chief software architect Ray Ozzie and chartered with building a development platform for writing Web applications that tap into data on Microsoft services.
Microsoft executives have said that the company's overall goal is to create a common development model that spans its online services, such as Virtual Earth and search, and its Windows and server products.
Last year, Ozzie described the cloud computing infrastructure that Microsoft is constructing to deliver services, which touch everything from user identification to applications like Windows Live Messenger.
Treadwell said that Microsoft's updated Live development platform has expanded application programming interfaces (APIs), including an API for getting contact information from a social networking site.
He also said Microsoft is boosting support for the Atom Publishing Protocol by providing Atom interfaces to some of its hosted services.
Finally, Treadwell said that Silverlight Streaming by Windows Live, a hosted service for delivering video to Web sites launched last year at Mix, is now in beta and includes 10GB of free storage.
This article was first published as a blog on CNET News.com.
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