Messenger Connect to support OAuth 2.0 in next version

TNW Quick Hit:

Today at the Internet Identity Workshop (IIW) Microsoft promised to support OAuth 2.0 in the next version of Messenger Connect.

Messenger Connect is a developer platform that Microsoft released in early 2010. When it first came out, this is how TNW described it: “Messenger Connect will pull together all of a user’s social networks into one ‘passport’ that they can use around the web. Like the new version of Windows Live Messenger, it supports Facebook, Myspace and LinkedIn but will additionally be supported by over 100 third-party partners at launch.”

With the next version supporting OAuth 2.0, Microsoft is taking a step to make the platform more appetizing to developers, hopefully spurring development work around the Messenger ecosystem. Microsoft has been taking extra time in recent months to court developers and curry their favor.

Messenger is a massive application, and has been ranked as high as number two on the Facebook ‘most used‘ app list. When Messenger took that second place spot, its Facebook app alone had over 14 million daily users.

Microsoft describes the move as “[building] on our existing commitment to open web standards shown in the current version through our implementation of ActivityStrea.ms, OAuth Wrap,Portable Contacts, & OData.” More details have been promised in the “coming months.”