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The Azure Services Platform is a key part of Microsoft’s Services Platform. Here’s the first of a comprehensive set of HDI’s (“How Do I …?”) on the entire Azure Services Platform. See my previous Azure and Cloud related posts here for background.
Here are some of the HDI’s you will find there:
How Do I: Get Started Developing on Windows Azure?
How Do I: deploy a Windows Azure Application?
How Do I: Store Blobs in Windows Azure Storage?
How Do I: Leverage Queues in Windows Azure?
How Do I: Get Started with .NET Services?
How Do I: Get Started with the Live Framework?
Visit the Azure Services Platform Videos site on MSDN and subscribe so that you can be notified when new HDIs are posted!
It was back in December when I wrote about Cloud Services. My post was triggered by an article in a Business Week article about Google’s Cloud Computing strategy. I also introduced you to our Cloud Infrastructure Services, and today I wanted to follow that with some exciting news around our data services, specifically SQL Server Data Services (SSDS).
We announced this at MIX08 a couple of weeks ago, but it sort of got second billing to our news around Silverlight 2, Silverlight for Mobile, and IE8 (more on that on a future post)! It is super exciting and only the beginning of foundational / infrastructure services to be introduced as part of our cloud computing strategy. Additional services that are in pre-beta from Biztalk Labs are Biztalk Services that include Identity, Connectivity, and an Internet Services Bus.
Don’t think of SSDS as SQL Server in the sky. Think of it as a true on-demand, scalable data service in the cloud, that enables web developers to leverage open, web service based standards, like SOAP, REST, and ATOM pub to connect to SSDS. Developers do not need to know traditional SQL! Of course, it will not provide all the functionality of a complete SQL Server Database, or a hosted version of it. Rather, a very scalable on-demand data service that can be leveraged in your “next web” solution using today’s web standards!
To view a session given by Nigel Ellis, Lead Architect on the project, introducing SSDS at MIX08, go here.
Speaking of The Web Platform, I get Business Week, and this last week’s Cover Story was titled Google and the Wisdom of Clouds
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The article’s focus centers around Christophe Bisciglia, a Sr. Software Engineer at Google, and his vision for Google 101 at University of Washington. It turns out his vision for the course set the foundation for Google’s Cloud computing strategy. A strategy that hopes to put “incredible computing power in the hands of many.” Google’s Cloud is essentially a gigantic cluster of computers (“hundreds of thousands”), holding extremely large sets of data, and copies of the entire World Wide Web. Making search faster, and enabling answers to billions of queries in seconds.
As the article touts, this move towards clouds signals a fundamental shift in how we handle information. Certainly a data centric view of computing as a utility.
Microsoft, along with IBM and Yahoo, are also highlighted in the article with regard to their “Cloud Power” strategies. Certainly, a lot has been written, speculated, and talked about at Microsoft as it relates to our Windows Live Services efforts. Our strategy has certainly taken on a Platform approach to Cloud Services. The architecture starts at the “Foundation Services” layer, and Cloud Infrastructure Services, led by Amitabh Srivastava, CVP. From there, we have heard Steve Ballmer divide our services into the following four groups to make up our Live Services:
Personal services: Windows Live, Office Live, Popfly, MSN, Live Search
Developer services: Windows Live Cloud Infrastructure services; Silverlight Streaming, BizTalk Services
Business services: Exchange Hosted Services, managed communications and collaboration, Office Live Small Business, CRM Live and accompanying Titan development platform
Service enablers: Windows Server, SQL Server, Visual Studio, adCenter, click-to-run client (ActiveX, Ajax, Silverlight, .Net and Win32 Softgrid for streaming apps on Windows XP)
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Sun believes that “The Network is the Computer”.
Google’s grand vision to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible is hinged on data and data indexed and replicated many times.
At Microsoft, the potential resides in software – platform and tools!
Visit Microsoft Live Labs, Windows Live Development Center, Windows Live Services Dev Site to learn more.
A new version of Live Search Maps was released earlier this week. Its built on the Virtual Earth Platform (new Virtual Earth APIs were also released this week). I think improvements are stunning. The quality of the maps, and the tools is absolutely awesome. Some of the new features include 1-click directions, a new Bird’s Eye in 3D, new improved search, and much more.
See Keith Kinnan’s Weblog (software engineer working on Virtual Earth and Live Search Maps) to learn more.
