We just released three four new Quick Applications - Retail, Team Builder, Field Manager, and Contoso Riders - all of which offer community-based Web sites integrating Windows Live services. Quick Applications are fully customizable and developed around specific Web scenarios. The source code has been released to Codeplex, which means anyone can download, modify, and resell the code (see MS-PL License for all the details).
Update: Retail was a last minute addition. Retail is a shopping site with a nifty user interface built off of Silverlight 2 and Silverlight Streaming.
What are Quick Applications used for? Angus Logan writes in his blog that
The Quick Apps have 3 purposes
- Examples of what is possible – use them, play with them, get ideas!
- Technical reference – if you want to use a Live Platform API, there is a good chance it will be in a Quick App, check out the code to see how it was implemented.
- Starting point – these end-to-end applications are licensed under a fairly liberal (OSI approved) license, you can use them as starting points for your own applications.
Get the Quick Applications
New Quick Applications
Develop an e-commerce site that uses videos to display products.
Develop a community around a group or team. Add photos, upload videos, and start conversations with other members.
Manage fields and leagues for sporting events. Create leagues, see up-to-date weather conditions for fields, add and view notes about field conditions.
Allows members to create bike rides and events. Share photos, add interactive maps, chat with other riders, and upload videos.
The Making of Contoso Rider, a Live Mashup Story
Quick Apps are typically developed by Microsoft Partners or customers, and occasionally in-house. The Contoso Riders Quick App was made by the mountain biking enthusiasts of the Habañero Consulting Group. It integrates a number of Windows Live services to "show people around the world" what it is like to ride in the Pacific Northwest.
Check out the fun video they made to learn how they used the Windows Live tools to build Contoso Riders.