I was chatting with Kurt Weber yesterday and asked when Windows Live Expo would be getting out of beta. He asked me to check out the team blog later in the day and when I did I saw his blog post entitled Official U.S. Launch of Windows Live Expo. It turns out that yesterday was launch day and below is an excerpt of his blog post describing some of the new features for the launch
Some of the new features for our latest release include:
- New Look - A brand new look & feel for the site which includes the official Windows Live look and integration, accessibility, scaling, and easier to use.
- Comments on a listing – Similar to comments on a blog; this feature will allow users to discuss issues in the soapbox area or ask the seller for more details about an item.
- APIs – Developers can now access all of our listings using a variety of parameters in order to create cool mash-ups (such as http://www.blockrocker.com). Full details about the API are available at http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnlive/html/winliveexpo.asp
- Driving directions – Users can now easily get driving directions to whatever listing they are viewing (courtesy of our friends at Live Local) by simply clicking a button.
For those keeping score, Expo is the fourth fifth Windows Live service to come out of beta.
Update: Thanks to
Szajd for reminding me that there have been five Windows Live services to come out of beta; (
Windows Live OneCare,
Windows Live Favorites,
Windows Live Messenger,
Windows Live Custom Domains and
Windows Live Expo).