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Microsoft Announces Windows Azure, Cloud-Based OS
snydeq writes "Microsoft today introduced Windows Azure, its operating system for the cloud. The OS serves as the underlying foundation of the Azure Services Platform to help developers build apps that span from the cloud to the datacenter, to PCs, the Web, and phones. Cloud-based developer capabilities are combined with storage, computational, and network infrastructure services, which are hosted on servers within Microsoft's global data center network."
From what they've said so far, Windows Azure is just Microsoft hosting your applications on their distributed network.
They were touting all these "great" things, but really that's all it really is.
Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon what's the difference? All steal money from devs and control with walled gardens.
According to Wikipedia, "Azure is a blue color, halfway between blue and cyan. Commonly it refers to a bright blue, resembling the sky on a bright, clear day."
So, now we can look forward to seeing a soothing Azure Screen of Death.
I'm an individual! Just like everyone else!
I've been writing Windows apps since 3.1. Microsoft couldn't write a decent API if their lives depended on it. They manage to take simple concept, and bury under layer upon layer of useless complexity. Too often their documentation doesn't give examples, and the only way to find out what something does is it sit around and experiment with it. Take the absurd DirectX: you *have* to use it, but even today it takes pages to get a window on the screen and the documentation is useless. Remember Microsoft OLE? Such a simple thing made so hard. I want to code in as few a lines as possible. I don't want to write pages of COM declarations. Worse of all is their DirectShow - put a video on the screen. It's a mess of pins and connectors. Ugh!
Although I'm a Windows programmer by training, I've been spreading my wings and it's nice to use APIs that are simpler and more elegant. I can write code to do what I want to do, instead of wasting days with my nose buried in absurdly thick reference books trying to understand what they were trying to do. It's like the people at Microsoft who spend their time writing APIs never have to actually use one.
So Microsoft Cloud? No, thanks. Cloud may turn out to be another flash-in-the-pan fad, but even so I'd rather use a cleaner API by someone else. Microsoft have a lousy track record. Thanks, but no thanks.
absolutely not. This means proprietary standards developed by Microsoft and given cutsie names. It ALWAYS means that.
"Slashdot, where telling the truth is overrated but lying is insightful."
...it's not an OS in my book. It may be an excellent (hmph!) network API, but it is not an operating system of any kind.
I don't know what kind of crack I was on, but I suspect it was decaf.
Hopefully this means proper standards for IE8 and JS3 support?
If Microsoft owns the desktop, browser, server, and data center, what's going to motivate them to follow standards?
Developers: We can use your help.
It's really hard to argue with such an extensive and reasoned argument.
Phase 6: Pay Kramer $150 to appear in 2 commercials with Steve Balmer
But when Google offers this, it's brilliant!
Windows 7 is losing core applications and replacing them with an installer to download them because doing so appeases the federal regulators who will come down -hard- on Microsoft implementing any program that could be considered, even if twenty years from now, unfair competition.
Microsoft doesn't want the headache and says, fine, we'll take our toys and replace it with an installer that is on the users' desktop or start menu or whatever, and they can choose to use it or not. OEMs can choose to leave it in or not, etc.
I'm OK with that, I don't use the Windows Live apps anyway.
How can you do that if your data is "in the cloud"? The SLA isn't worth the paper that it is written on if your business goes down for a week because something went wrong with "the cloud".
Supporting small business I've seen some down right foolish and stupid decisions made on IT, placing cost over their data security.
Most cloud services offer business access to applications and services they could not afford if they put the software on site and I see it as no different to a SMB deciding to spend 5K on a new server and ignore the extra 5K for a backup system to support it.
Some business owners will understand the risks, and some will either not care or go for the bottom line with cost.
I cant wait to see how sucktacular it is. All the reliability and stability of Microsoft software delivered through Microsoft's legendary networking skill.
Friends, the LHC has nothing on this. We're about to see an example of negative energy, when modern physics had all but proved it completely impossible.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
It'll take baby-steps and corrections along the way, but so far this is the first real attempt at it.
Wrong. No Microsoft paycheck for you.
Google, Sun, Alexa, Amazon, GoGrid, Skytap, 3tera, Apache Hadoop, 3Par -- these companies/projects have all been doing cloud computing -- some for as long as the last 5 years. Microsoft is the johnny-come-lately here.
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I, personally, would be THRILLED, if I could sit down at any broadband-connected PC in the world and get the same desktop and files that I have at home. I've played with Ulteo, and it is close - but clearly needs some time and manpower thrown at it. If there was a mature, polished version of Ulteo that could do what other OSs can do, I'd probably be willing to give up my Macs as well as my Windows/Ubuntu machine.
Can MS pull it off? I doubt it, but I'm glad that they are trying.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
Your Sig -
"Slashdot, where telling the truth is overrated but lying is insightful."
You're currently at +4 insightful, you must be lying.
Windows 7 is losing core applications and replacing them with an installer to download them...
Coming in Windows 8: repos.