Microsoft Releases Cloud-Based OS

By Greg McNevin

October 29, 2008: In a significant shift towards its “live Services” computing vision, Microsoft has announced a new cloud-based operating system called Azure that will run over the internet from its servers.

Aimed at developers, the new version of Windows was unveiled at Microsoft's Professional Developer Conference this week, tying together some of the Live-branded odds and ends the company has released over the last few years.

The OS is more of a future strategy than a new software release for Microsoft, with the company likening Azure to Amazon’s hosted computing service.

“In many ways this is a turning point for Microsoft,” said Microsoft’s chief software architect Ray Ozzie. “It's the transformation of our software, of our strategy and of our offerings across the board.”

Azure will enable developers to build applications that run over the web, be it partially or completely.

The software will be free for an as yet undetermined preview period, after which Microsoft will charge “a competitive” fee appropriate for the marketplace.

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