The Microsoft PDC 2008 is in full effect, and Microsoft Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie just officially announced Windows Azure as a web-facing/cloud-facing operating system.
The new operating system will allow first and third-party development in jointly building the ground level for Microsoft’s new cloud strategy. Permitting communal, professional and Microsoft-developed modules, the OS is running on Microsoft servers running all over the world.
Using Microsoft’s traditional .NET, C++ and C# desktop tools, new services can be written, debugged and tested locally and then pushed to the cloud with the touch of a button. Binaries developed with these familiar tools leverage the Microsoft Cloud Developer Portal for publication and immediate web accessibility.
Controlling the accessibility and resources for these web applications is done entirely through XML-based parameter definitions. Microsoft has promised a UI that will sit atop the XML files for those uncomfortable with directly editing XML sheets.
A program developed in ASP.NET and made web-accessible in less than a minute is available here.
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