Microsoft has released Windows Azure, its cloud computing
platform for running .net web services.
At the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC). Ray
Ozzie, chief software architect at Microsoft, unveiled the
company's "three screens and a cloud" vision, where software
experiences are delivered seamlessly across PCs, phones and
televisions, all connected by cloud-based services.
He said, "Customers want choice and flexibility in how they
develop and deploy applications. We are moving into an era of
solutions that are experienced by users across PCs, phones and the
web, and that are delivered from datacentres we refer to as private
clouds and public clouds."
Microsoft has developed Windows Server
AppFabric Beta 1,
a set of integrated, high-level application services designed to
help application developers deploy and manage applications spanning
both server and cloud platforms.
Bob Muglia, president of the server and tools business at
Microsoft, said, "Microsoft is converging on a common developer
platform for both servers and services, which will enable
developers to continue using familiar .net Framework and Visual
Studio tools and technologies, as well as third-party tools such as
Eclipse, to create and monetise applications that run on the server
and as services in the cloud."