|
July 12, 2006
 Microsoft
launched its free online classified listing site, Windows Live
Expo today in the United States market, announcing that it is no
longer a public pre-release beta version, but "a fully fledged
Windows Live service". The corporation is readying a UK version,
too.
Expo, one of the 30+ announced
Windows Live services and software products, is the fifth
service in the set to launch. It was previously available in a
public beta form for U.S. residents.
On Windows Live Expo users can buy and sell
items, post classified advertisements, and search for bargains.
Similar Web sites include
Craigslist and
eBay. Expo can perform searches for listings by people in a
specific group (e.g. only e-mail contacts), and also by the
geographic distance of the lister from the user.
The service is meant to be heavily integrated
with other Windows Live products, such as Messenger and Spaces.
The new version, compared to the betas, introduces the new
Windows Live look, the ability to add comments to a listing,
provides driving directions to a specific place (like the home
of the seller of an item), and also provides more help for
developers to expand upon Expo.
The announcement, published on the product
team's blog, also noted that a UK version of the service was
created and is available internally inside the company.
Expo was previously code-named Classified, and
earlier code-named Fremont. |
