Microsoft forecast: partly cloudy

In a previous post I asked Where is the Microsoft cloud? That is, where is the Microsoft competitive offering to Amazon's AWS, for example.


So far, I've found mostly hot air. BizTalk Services is interesting, but still very much in the early stages. Certainly worth keeping an eye on. But branding it under the BizTalk name seems very odd - these are fundamental services like authentication, access control, & connectivity - and not tied specifically to BizTalk.


I have to say that I'm not getting the great sense of urgency from Microsoft about cloud computing that Nick Malik's "Microsoft is coming" bravado suggests.

Now, Microsoft is certainly talking a lot about cloud computing - has been for the last 6 months. From a NetworkWorld article:

Microsoft also plans later this year to launch Version 1 of a 12- to 24-month project to create Windows Live Cloud Infrastructure Services, Web-based services such as directory, identity and storage. The operating system services target companies and developers, who will wrap them around their applications, such as tapping an online directory service to generate a Kerberos ticket that a user would present to gain access to an on-premises or service-based application.

Which all sounds like goodness. But that article was written in July. End of the year is only a couple of weeks away. Did I miss that Version 1 release announcement? Maybe they were talking in Friedman Units.

Can a project of this magnitude be even only 24 months away when Cloud Infrastructure Services is still just a Microsoft research project with a rather nebulous vision?

And if putting announcements with titles like "Microsoft Does Have a SOA Strategy" on your main SOA page is meant to inspire confidence, well...

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by hynesean

Where is the Microsoft cloud?

I've been doing heavy research lately into scalable distributed systems, and Amazon's S3 and EC2 are front and center in my brain as I'm working my way through the literature.

Amazon's AWS and now IBM's BlueCloud are out in front with cloud computing offerings. Google may or may not be planning something akin to S3 with Google shared storage combined with APIs.


In the midst of my research, I saw that Microsoft has a codename - Oslo - for their next iteration of SOA tools. And so the obvious question (to me, at least) is: where is Microsoft's cloud computing offering?

Well, looks like BizTalk Services may be Microsoft's response. Charles Young has an overview of his early experiences with it.

Looks like I have more research to do...

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