Do you have a Microsoft account? Yes, the same consolidated account that powers your Outlook email/contacts/calendars, OneDrive, Xbox, Windows 8 and Windows Phone devices, along with a slew of other Microsoft services. Millions of people do. Chances are, your application’s users probably also have a Microsoft account. This presents a potential opportunity.

Live Services is what powers many facets of your Microsoft account, like profile information, contacts, calendars and OneDrive. These services are very familiar for many users, and when you’re able to leverage these same services, users can feel right at home within your application. Enter Live Connect APIs, which are a thin layer of RESTful services on top of Live Services that allows developers to integrate Live Services into their applications. This is possible from any type of application – web, whether desktop or mobile, and across any platform. You can do user authentication through MSFT account on web & any mobile app (native/hybrid) across platforms. You can then take the next step forward & integrate with user’s Calendar, Contacts & even OneDrive.

See the promise? Check out my 2 article series on integrating Live Connect in your Web, Windows 8 & hybrid mobile apps. Write-up & walkthrough over HERE & HERE @ the Telerik Dev Network.

Adios!