The NewsDemon Blog

Microsoft is taking another step into the world of Web-based computing with a new system it’s calling Windows Azure.

Microsoft says it’s joining Amazon.com and other rivals in selling information storage space and computing power “in the cloud,” distributed across massive data centers worldwide. That will let companies build Web-based programs without having to manage their own data centers.

Microsoft’s chief software architect, Ray Ozzie, described Azure to software developers at a conference in Los Angeles. Ozzie said that managing Microsoft’s own Web sites and Web-based programs has made the company adept at anticipating Web traffic spikes and knowing when to ramp up some computers and dial down others.

Want to know more about Microsoft Azure and other Microsoft news? Did you know that Microsoft has over 100 Newsgroups relating to every product they’ve released?  Check out just some of these Newsgroups as an example:

microsoft.public.test
microsoft.public.windows.vista.general
microsoft.public.greatplains
microsoft.public.outlook
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
microsoft.public.excel.misc
microsoft.public.access
microsoft.public.windowsupdate

To name a few.