Next month, at the MIX09 conference, we’ll be releasing some cool new bits. As such, we’ll be deprecating a bit of our current functionality later this month (details below). Thanks to everyone who has tried our current technologies and given feedback; please know that it has helped us in developing the richer functionality we’ll be providing at MIX and beyond. While we can’t say much more about what we’ll be releasing right now, we think you’ll love this new stuff and we can’t wait to get it in your hands. So watch this space as we get closer to the middle of March for more info.

So, what’s being deprecated?

The Windows Live Photos Control and the presence/messenger capabilities of the Windows Live Contacts Control (JavaScript and Visual Studio versions) will no longer be available come Feb 27^th.

What alternatives do you have?

• For presence or Windows Live Messenger capabilities, you have a great set of alternatives. You can use one of the various Window Live Messenger APIs that are already available.
• You can continue to use the Contacts control to display contacts, but the ability to launch the Windows Live Messenger client or to show presence information will no longer be available. To continue to use the Contacts control to display contacts, all you need to do is to remove the devlive:view= "tile" or devlive:view= "tilelist" parameter from the <contactscontrol> element on your Web page.

Again, thanks to all who have used these controls and who have offered valuable feedback. We look forward to hearing how you like our next releases.

--Live Services Team