The world is gravitating towards the Web so it only makes sense that Microsoft should aim towards offering a platform that truly allows users and developers the chance to fully exploit all of its advantages through the multitude of computing and communication devices now available.
During the last Professional Developers Conference 2008 held last week in Los Angeles, Ca., Microsoft announced that it was doing just that; they are aiming to deploy their cloud-based operating system and services platform, called Azure, by 2010.
"We are bringing the best of the Web to Windows, and the best of Windows to the Web," said Ray Ozzie, Microsoft’s Chief Software Architect.
Microsoft promises that this new platform will offer never-before-seen scalability and adaptability making it ideal for developers and businesses, whilst offering consumers more choices and better connectivity to the ever more powerful Web across the growing array of devices (PCs, laptops, mobile phones, PDAs, in-car systems, and HDTVs, etc.) available.
The building block of this new platform is Windows Azure, a cloud-based operating system that will serve not only as the basis for the development and deployment, but also as the driving engine and environment for web-based applications and services. This base layer will provide the computation and storage services on which all other components and services will reside, including the second layer integral to the Azure Services Platform, a collection of infrastructure developer services that includes Microsoft .NET and SQL Services and extensions to the Microsoft Live, SharePoint, and Dynamics CRM Services. These services will be available and fully compatible to applications developed on Windows Azure as well as allow to broaden the scope of existing ‘on-premises’ applications or those that run in other hosted environments.
According to Microsoft, by moving Windows away from the personal computer and extending it to the Web, developers and businesses who are now finding themselves facing a series of critical and costly challenges should now experience much more freedom and flexibility when trying to create scalable solutions that involve multiple device types. In a recent press release, Microsoft states:
Windows Azure extends Windows to the Web, where developers can build, deploy and maintain new cloud-based applications using existing skills and familiar tools such as Visual Studio.
What does all this mean for consumers? Beyond the obvious – although Microsoft has yet to release information regarding any purchasing or licensing fees, we can all expect that there will be a cost involved, as is standard when (legally) purchasing software or an update – consumers are promised a much richer experience that exploits the full advantage of the Web and Live Services. Windows Azure will also offer users much more freedom in the choice of devices they wish to use and much more ease and flexibility in regards to how they wish to integrate these in their daily lives, not to mention the ability to automatically sync and share information across multiple device types.
