Windows Live ID Web Authentication Preview Release!

I’m excited to announce the limited availability preview release ofWindows Live ID Web Authentication! This new feature enables you to add Windows Live ID authentication to your Web site. It works by sending your users to the Windows Live ID Sign In page by using a specially formatted link. Then, the service directs your user back to your Web site with a unique ID that you can use to store personalized content, assign user rights, and perform other tasks for the authenticated user. This unique ID is specific to your site and is encrypted.

Because it is based on the HTTP standards, you can use Windows Live ID from any Web application platform. In this preview, we give you example code in both C# and Ruby programming languages.

Benefits

The benefits of incorporating Windows Live ID into your Web applications are as follows:

• Use Windows Live gadgets and controls to incorporate authenticated Windows Live services and data into your Web site.
• Free!!! Using Windows Live ID is free up to 1 million users per month. Additional users per month are only 25 cents per year!
• The HTTP-based, platform-neutral interface lets you implement Windows Live ID authentication in your existing Web application, without having to install components or software of any kind on the server. This is especially beneficial to sites hosted by a third party.
• You do not have to worry about the technical details of authentication! The Windows Live ID authentication service handles this for you.
• By enabling Windows Live accounts to sign in directly to your site, any of the hundreds of millions of users who have a Windows Live ID can become a user of your site.

To get started, apply today athttps://connect.microsoft.com/site/sitehome.aspx?SiteID=401.

Note: This is a limited availability preview release of Windows Live ID Web Authentication. Because of the large number of applications we may receive, we may be unable to approve your request at this time. Rest assured, we will notify you when additional space becomes available.

We are excited about the great things you can do with Windows Live ID!