Windows Azure

As I noted on the day the iPad was released, the fact that another company may be the one to make the tablet computer a mass-market consumer device has to leave plenty of folks in Redmond smarting.

But while most of that frustration has stayed private, one former Tablet PC team member has lashed out publicly. Dick Brass, a former Microsoft VP who left the company in 2004, lashed out at Redmond in an op-ed piece that ran Thursday in The New York Times.

As some have questioned what the release of the iPad means for Amazon, Brass said he … Read more

With Windows Azure now commercially launched, Microsoft is looking for some new ways to fill up its cloud.

The software maker on Thursday announced a deal in which it will work with the National Science Foundation to find cloud computing projects that could benefit from free access to Windows Azure. Those chosen by the NSF will get three years of free Azure access and support.

"Cloud computing can transform how research is conducted, accelerating scientific exploration, discovery and results," Microsoft Vice President Dan Reed said in a statement. "These grants will also help researchers explore rich and … Read more

If you had trouble decoding what was new in Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft's partnership based on Tuesday morning's announcement, you are not alone.

Nearly all the time on a conference call with reporters about the news was spent with the press asking for specifics and the companies offering more adjectives than details about the three-year, $250 million deal.

HP CEO Mark Hurd assured reporters that he and CEO Steve Ballmer wouldn't be taking the time if it was "just another press release" and stressed that the deal, which cuts across sales, engineering, and marketing was the … Read more

It's been a busy year for Bob Muglia.

Microsoft's server and tools boss shipped an update to Windows Server, got promoted to division president, and prepared Microsoft's operating system in the clouds--Windows Azure--for its commercial launch.

In what has become a bit of a year-end ritual, Muglia sat down with CNET for a year-end interview. We hit on a range of topics, from the future of Windows Server, to why his bank won't be moving to Windows Azure any time soon, to the changing life of an IT manager, to Microsoft's consumer future. (Spoiler alert: … Read more

Microsoft said Friday that it has acquired Toronto-based Opalis Software, a maker of data center management software.

The company did not disclose financial details of the transaction, but said that the move will augment its System Center line of management software. Opalis' products already plug in to System Center, as well as other companies' management software. Over time, Microsoft plans to add some of Opalis' software into System Center itself.

"I believe this acquisition is a pivotal piece to deliver on our dynamic data center initiative," Microsoft vice president Brad Anderson said in a blog posting. "This … Read more

LOS ANGELES--During Tuesday's keynote speech, Ray Ozzie outlined how Windows Azure works from a software perspective.

Across the Los Angeles Convention Center, though, developers had a chance to see just what Azure is running on. Microsoft uprooted one of its containers from its Washington data center and brought it to the Professional Developers Conference.

The container was one of the more popular attractions on the PDC show floor as attendees had a chance to peek in and even step inside the container.

It is Microsoft's fourth generation of data center design----newer even than the containers used at the … Read more

LOS ANGELES--When Ray Ozzie penned his Internet Services Disruption memo back in 2005, he had a pretty good idea where the computing world was going. He just didn't know how Microsoft was going to get there.

While many are ready to write off Microsoft as an declining icon of computing's last generation, Ozzie sees Microsoft positioned to leapfrog some of the companies that tend to be thought of as the leaders of the cloud computing world--names like Amazon, Salesforce and Google.

"I will never, ever, utter the words 'mission accomplished' for obvious reasons," Ozzie said in … Read more

LOS ANGELES--Microsoft wants you to join it in the cloud.

That's the company's message Tuesday from its Professional Developers Conference here, where Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie gave the opening keynote address.

Ozzie announced plans for the formal launch of Windows Azure, the cloud-based operating system that lets developers write programs that run on servers in Microsoft's data centers. It will be in production for all users starting January 1, though a few customers will enter production now, Ozzie said.

In other news, Microsoft announced a technology preview of a new data service, code-named Dallas, that lets … Read more

When Ray Ozzie first landed at Microsoft in 2005, he found a company with lots of good ideas. He also found things were getting in the way of innovation, everything from businesses that weren't thinking about the broader company strategy to the way Microsoft stationed each of its workers in their own office.

As the new chief software architect set out to work on Microsoft's cloud-based strategy, he also started doing his part to shift that corporate culture. To house his team, Ozzie had Microsoft tear up its typical floor plan. Instead of tons of hallways and offices, … Read more