What is Windows Live?  Well it isn't Shopping anymore, or WiFi, but what one thing it very well may turn out to be is a developer's platform, according to a recent article in Redmond Developer News.  Getting 3rd party developers to create their own applications on top of Windows Live web services will help push the Windows Live initiative "over the top", Redmond Developer News attributes Microsoft as saying.

Microsoft is expected to unveil details about its developer story at Mix07, but Adam Sohn, director of worldwide sales and marketing for Microsoft's online services group, talked with Redmond Developer News about their plans.

Sohn said that Microsoft is working to present a more cohesive architecture for its emerging Live Services businesses - to provide a "one stop shop", a framework built on top of Windows Live APIs.  These APIs fall into 2 main categories within the framework: infrastructure, and applications.

The announcement of the Windows Live SDK, although in its current form only links up the current Windows Live services APIs, is an early indication of what's to come.  Obviously some very basic parts of the framework are missing (Calendar, storage) and there's a lot of work to  do in other areas to even complete the current set of applications (even naming them has been a challenge).

Developing an architecture around Microsoft's Live services has been and will be a big part of what happens in this coming year and beyond.  It may be why Ray Ozzie has been so silent lately.  We may find out as early as his keynote at Mix07.