Controlling service discovery and activation among peers

A system for publishing service availability in a plurality of service discovery scenarios, the system comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a computer storage media having computer executable instructions embodied thereon that when executed by the processor configure the system to:
• determine that a service associated with a first computing device is available for another computing device to use through a wireless activation protocol;
• select, based on a wireless context of the first computing device, a publication protocol from available wireless communication protocols useable by the first computing device to communicate a message indicating the service is available, wherein the publication protocol is different from the wireless activation protocol;
• communicate the message using the publication protocol such that the service is discoverable by a second computing device;
• and
• receive, at the first computing device's radio from the second computing device that received the message, an activation request for the service, the activation request formatted in the wireless activation protocol.

A method for service discovery and activation comprising:

• receiving, from a second computing device, a message comprising instructions for accessing a service available on the second computing device, the message communicated in a publication protocol;
• understanding instructions encoded with the message for accessing the service via an activation protocol that is different from the publication protocol;
• and
• initiating connection with the service over the activation protocol utilizing the instructions encoded within the message.