Microsoft to halt Live Framework CTP on Sept. 8

InfoWorld - Microsoft on Sept. 8 plans to discontinue its Live Framework Community Technology Preview for developers, instead integrating the framework into the next release of the company's Windows Live online services.

In a blog post on Friday, David Treadwell, Microsoft's corporate vice president for Live Platform Services, asked developers to download data and/or code from the service prior to Sept. 8 and to remove devices from the services. Controls also must be removed.

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Access to the technical preview of Live Framework was offered at the company's Professional Developer conference in Los Angeles last fall. The framework is part of a vision to provide developers with a consistent programming interface. But now, existing services, controls, and the framework will be integrated into Windows Live.

"Our vision is to provide you with deeper access to the more than 500 million 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," Treadwell said.

"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," said Treadwell.

Other services also will become unavailable on Sept. 8, including CTP Tools/ASP.Net Controls, with Microsoft suggesting alternatives including UI Controls from the Messenger Web Toolkit for Contacts and Messenger Chat. The Windows Live ID Web Authentication Service replaces IDLoginStatus Control.

Live Mesh, for sharing and synchronizing of files and programs among different computers, remains available to end users. For the Live Services developer portal, the ability to build Live Framework-enabled Web sites and Mesh-enabled applications will be removed.