Server, Cloud and all points in-between

Update on recent developments regarding Windows Azure Datacenter Expansion and Capacity planning - here .

Yesterday I posted a blog on the Windows Azure Blog announcing new pricing which will benefit both small and large SQL Azure DB customers. If you haven't already, please check it out!

Yesterday, David Greschler posted a bit on HyperV and System Center which referenced a recent InfoWorld article as well as a recent study from ESG on performance . Towards the end of Greschler's post, he covered pricing which will be increasingly important...

Two Truths and a Myth: The rate of virtualization (number of servers and / or number of instances per server) has hit a plateau. The total number of virtual instances will be greater than physical servers in 2011. Because of...

Summary for the Service Provider IT Professionals / Procurement Officers who are desperately late for a meeting and spilling coffee as they run down the hall… There are some pricing changes for Windows Server in SPLA that take effect January 1...

At the PDC, the volume of announcements on product updates, new offers and emerging technology can be so high that details can be easily lost. While there are those who pride themselves on detecting every nuance, my guess is there are developers, customers...

I talked about the results of a benchmarking study performed by Greg Leake a couple months back on my blog. Greg took a hard look at Windows Server 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.5 in comparison to IBM’s Power6 and WebSphere 7 from both a cost and performance...

While the idea of Microsoft giving a keynote address at JavaOne – the Java community’s biggest conference of the year – has probably raised a few eyebrows, it really shouldn’t come as that big of a surprise at this point. Not only have we been involved...

Last month Microsoft announced its first-ever Azure Developer Challenge . Since then, we’ve received strong interest and several questions about the competition. The question I most frequently receive is, “Why is the Azure Dev Challenge open to...

Friday concluded this year’s TechED: North America . We were delighted to have thousands of developers, IT professionals and technology decision makers in attendance, gaining insights into how to make their applications, infrastructures and businesses...

As everyone knows, there is no shortage of passion in the tech industry. Naturally, there are many viewpoints out there, which leads to another thing I always enjoy….a spirited debate. Just so happens that I’m having one right here as a result of the...

At MIX we unveiled the Web Platform Installer (PI) 2.0 Beta. The WebPI combined with the work we have done on the Web App Gallery is a significant step forward in helping customers build and deploy Web applications and sites. For developers, this means...

As you know, I’m always up for a little friendly competition… I’m excited to announce that today, we are kicking off the first Azure Services Platform Developer Challenge . Over the next two months, developers will have the opportunity to show off...

Yesterday I blogged about some recent findings regarding both system cost and performance when comparing Windows Server 2008 on an HP Blade Server against AIX on a POWER 570/POWER6 based server. As I stated, the tests showed that WebSphere loved running...

For years I’ve heard people say that Microsoft technology is great for mid range solutions. I can’t tell you how many CIOs have told me things like “we use WinTel for department level applications but the big iron apps run on Unix.” There’s a general...

Six years ago we announced a multi-year, multi-product vision for the Enterprise which we called Dynamic IT. The principles were simple - virtualization, model driven, services oriented and user centric. Shortly thereafter, we began to conceptualize a...

Earlier today, the DMTF announced the creation of the “ Open Standards Cloud Incubator ” group which will specifically focus on developing a set of informational specifications for cloud resource management. This is one of what will probably be a number...

Even before the events of early this week, we were fielding questions about a homogenous hardware / software approach. Apple being the obvious example - clearly there is a segment that is willing to pay significantly more for a closed hardware / software...

Speaking of standards - I’m thrilled to report that we will release the “M5” (Milestone 5) CTP ( C ommunity T echnology P review – think Beta) for .NET Services (part of the Azure Services Platform) tomorrow! For those who aren’t familiar with this effort...

As you might expect, several of us spent most of Thursday and Friday last week in conversations with developers, standards body members and other vendors regarding open standards for cloud computing and how we get there collaboratively. Being in this...

Moving Toward an Open Process on Cloud Computing Interoperability From the moment we kicked off our cloud computing effort, openness and interop stood at the forefront. As those who are using it will tell you, the Azure Services Platform is an open...

Press and blog coverage over the last few weeks spurred several folks to ask questions about our licensing model for cloud technology - specifically Windows Azure. I posted a blog last week which covered a variety of topics related to Azure (Microsoft...

Last Friday we spent time talking about Oslo , which included a drill into “M” and demos. Doug Purdy and Chris Sells presented their session ‘Developing RESTful Services and Clients with "M"’. During the session, Doug demonstrated two DSLs: a sample DSL...

Posting from The Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas where I’m taking part in Microsoft’s 4 th annual MIX event, where the crowd is a sea of red… red shirts that is, in honor of Scott Guthrie’s style. Looking around I see a diverse group of web designers...

Sign the petition here ! See you at Mix .