Platform Services Expanding

To attract more developers to Windows Live platform services, Microsoft is launching a service for hosting interactive applications that are based on its new Silverlight technology and is announcing a general set of rules for licensing these services. However, for many of these services, high-traffic sites will have to pay Microsoft a fee or split advertising revenue with the company, conditions that competitor Google does not impose. Moreover, inconsistent licensing terms and technologies could cause confusion among potential adopters.

Silverlight Streaming Service and Terms

At the 2007 Mix conference for Web developers, Microsoft offered details about Silverlight, its new technology for creating interactive Web-based applications, which is a direct competitor to Adobe’s Flash. (For detailed coverage of Silverlight, see “Silverlight Details Emerge, Expression Studio Ships“.)

The company also announced a new hosted online service: Silverlight Streaming by Windows Live. The service targets small developers who want to distribute their Silverlight content widely over the Internet, but don’t want to invest in the online infrastructure (e.g., storage and bandwidth) necessary to host these applications themselves. Silverlight Streaming offers unlimited streaming and up to 4GB of storage at no charge; beyond 4GB, customers will have to sign commercial deals, the terms of which will vary by usage and have not been publicly announced.