As it moved forward with the development of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, Microsoft promised that the Windows Web Services application programming interface, included by default in both operating systems, would be made available to older releases of Windows client and server platforms. The Redmond company managed to live up to this promise following the availability of the Release Candidate Builds of Windows 7 client and Windows Server 2008 R2. Last week, the Redmond company started offering Windows Web Services API build 6.0.6001.18241, also labeled Release Candidate, for the precursors of Windows 7.

The company enumerated the following supported platforms: “Windows Server XP SP3, Windows Server 2003 SP2 and Windows Server 2003 R2 with SP2, Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 SP1.” Windows Web Services API build 6.0.6001.18241 is designed to play nice not only with the 32-bit and 64-bit architectures but also with Itanium CPUs. The RC bits are available for download in English, German, Arabic and Japanese.

“To install, Download the package for the version of Windows you are interested. Run the installer. To uninstall, on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, Open Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs and uninstall "Windows Web Services API; on Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, Open Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features > Installed Updates and uninstall "Update for Microsoft Windows (KB959175),” Microsoft informed.

Windows Web Services API build 6.0.6001.18241 is currently up for grabs via Microsoft Connect. In Microsoft's vision, the Web Services API is designed to provide developers a way around the shortcoming of the Windows Communication Foundation. In this regard, the application programming interface focuses on scenarios in which developers use native C/C++ code to connect their Windows applications to other computers or to remote services. Doing the same with WCF would deliver a handicap in terms of performance.