Microsoft Corp.'s long hold on power in the software industry has depended on its solid grip on developers. Programmers have written uncountable desktop and client/server applications over the decades that have inextricably linked independent software developers and corporate IT shops to Microsoft. Now the company aims to do the same for cloud-based software by luring loyal programmers to its Windows Windows Azure environment.
Microsoft has no plans to let businesses license and host its Windows Azure cloud-computing infrastructure on their own premises, the company said this week.
Microsoft at the Mix09 conference on Wednesday revealed several moves intended to bolster its Windows Azure cloud computing platform, adding support for PHP application development and native code as well as full trust capabilities.
Future versions of Windows Server will enable companies to efficiently manage and provide virtualized applications through the Web just like Microsoft's upcoming platform-as-a-service, Windows Azure, a company executive said this week.
To understand Microsoft's cloud software strategy, look not just to what the software maker plans to deliver, but how.
This week, Microsoft took the wraps off the cloud operating system that CEO Steve Ballmer hinted at earlier this month and that has been under development for two years under Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie. Named Azure, it is the foundation of what will become the hosting platform run by Microsoft, first in its own data centers and potentially licensed to other data-center providers. The release is the first part of Microsoft's services platform, and it provides an outline for where Azure is going.
Microsoft's Windows Azure operating system and the online platform it anchors will ship in the second half of 2009, and its pricing will be based a set of usage metrics, according to the company's newly posted Azure Web site.
With support for three of the major pillars of application development and deployment -- Oracle 11g, Microsoft SQL, and open source MySQL -- under its belt, Amazon.com appears to be anticipating a major move by the enterprise into the cloud.
While much will be said about Microsoft's cloud-computing strategy introduced Monday, at the heart of Windows Azure is a fairly simple goal: inspire corporate developers to rethink the way they develop software so applications can take better advantage of the Web.
Microsoft Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie Monday touted Windows Azure, Microsoft's cloud-computing platform that allows developers to build and host their services on Microsoft infrastructure.
Making a major move in the SaaS space, Microsoft introduced its operating system for the cloud, Windows Azure, at the company's Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles on Monday morning.
Although Microsoft registered the Web site for its new Windows Azure more than 14 years ago, it has not trademarked the name of its new cloud-based operating system, Windows Azure, Internet searches revealed Monday.