{"id":1602,"date":"2010-02-01T11:57:11","date_gmt":"2010-02-01T11:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1602"},"modified":"2010-02-04T17:34:07","modified_gmt":"2010-02-04T17:34:07","slug":"windows-azure-avoiding-charges-feature-voting-uk-azure-awareness-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2010\/02\/windows-azure-avoiding-charges-feature-voting-uk-azure-awareness-week.htm","title":{"rendered":"Windows Azure: avoiding charges; feature voting; UK Azure Awareness week"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Windows<\/a>Today is the day that Microsoft’s cloud-based computing platform, Windows Azure<\/a>, which has been running through a phased launch over recent months, becomes a chargeable service.<\/p>\n

I don’t know if it’s expensive or not – it looks a bit steep to me<\/a> – but I don’t have a reference point (other than simple web hosting) and, because of the granular charging structure, it’s difficult to get a true idea of what the charges might be for any given application.\u00c2\u00a0 Expensive or not – what Azure provides is flexibility (i.e to mix on-premise and cloud-based infrastructure), elasticity (e.g. to cope with bursts in computing resources requirements) and familiarity (i.e. the code deployed to the web is still Microsoft .NET code,\u00c2\u00a0or\u00c2\u00a0 indeed it could be something else -\u00c2\u00a0like C++, Java, Ruby or PHP\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 although you might need a small amount of .NET “veneer”).<\/p>\n

I don’t pretend to understand all of the details of Windows Azure – I’m no developer – but Steve Marx has produced a great introduction to Azure video<\/a> for non-techies:<\/p>\n

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If this sounds interesting to you, then read on… because, last Friday, I was at Microsoft UK’s\u00c2\u00a0offices, where\u00c2\u00a0I was fortunate to see Microsoft UK Developer Evangelist Eric Nelson<\/a> (Twitter @ericnel<\/a>) present his seven things that may surprise you about the Windows Azure platform<\/a>. In his presentation, Eric also highlighted a couple of offers that can be used to avoid paying for Azure – for example if you have a small cloud-based app (perhaps a demonstration), or if you’re just dipping your toe into the water:<\/p>\n