Microsoft to Developers: Experiment a Little

Microsoft is building a Web site designed to allow Microsoft product groups—and, later, third-party software developers—to test new Live features and services in a controlled environment.

The new site, known as the Windows Live Experimentation Platform, went live April 20. The site is running on top of Office Live, a set of service extensions to Microsoft Office that Microsoft released to beta testers earlier this year.

The Live Experimentation Platform is Microsoft’s latest move toward making Windows Live not just a collection of services, but a developer platform in its own right.

Is Windows Live Microsoft’s antitrust savior? Click here to read Mary Jo Foley’s column.

Microsoft rivals Google, Yahoo, Amazon and eBay all are embarking on similar strategies, by exposing more services as open application programming interfaces and encouraging developers to build mashups, composite applications, and other consumer and business software atop their respective platforms.

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