Well it almost seems ages ago, but it almost two years ago Microsoft launched Windows Azure. After the PDC’08 I wrote a post called the future is in the cloud and some responded: “this cloud thing is going to be huge. But, the question if Microsoft will also be huge. I think the clear market leader at the moment is Amazon, followed by Google”.
Where is it now? According to this article ‘Microsoft’s Windows Azure: What a difference a year makes’ a lot has changed. I notice it to as Windows Azure is getting more press releases here in the Netherlands in different magazine (on- and offline). Even I have just recently wrote another article around Service Bus for Dutch Technet magazine, which basically a little more detailed story found on Windows Azure website.
Cloud computing is starting to be big business and Microsoft will be one of the providers for it together with Google and Amazon. As IT professional I am starting to get more involved into it, like integration between on-premise systems with SalesForce (CRM Cloud application). See some of my previous posts.
I do believe that it will not take long before companies will fully embrace cloud computing and adopt Windows Azure or offerings by Google, Amazon and others. By then a lot of us will work on applications and services running in the cloud and connecting them to on-premise applications and systems. BizTalk certainly will play a role in it.
