The Microsoft Interoperability Technical Strategy team announced a new set of tools based on Eclipse and updated client libraries (SDK) for Windows Azure at Professional Developers Conference 2010 (PDC 10).

This means that you can now choose to upload the Java environment of their choice and run it on Windows Azure which, as you know, is an Open Platform that can provide language choice such as C#, PHP or Java. http://www.WindowsAzure.com/interop/

The team announced:

• Windows Azure tools for Eclipse/Java, an open source project sponsored by Microsoft, and developed and released by partner Soyatec, an international software company and Eclipse solution provider. We expect Soyatec to be able to make a Community Technology Preview of the Windows Azure tools for Eclipse/Java available by December 2010. These tools allow Java developers to build and test Java applications and deploy these directly to Windows Azure.
• Soyatec is releasing version 2.0 of the Windows Azure SDK for Java. This SDK enables Java developers easily use Windows Azure storage services in their web applications.
• The availability of the new November 2010 CTP of the Windows Azure Tools for Eclipse/PHP as well as a new November 2010 CTP of the Windows Azure Companion, a tool that aims to provide a seamless experience when installing and configuring PHP platform-elements and Web applications running on Windows Azure.
• The launch of a new online technical/resource website dedicated to Windows Azure and PHP. This site will be a one stop shop for PHP developers to discover, learn and get expertise on Windows Azure. A beta version of the site is available at http://AzurePHP.interoperabilitybridges.com.

For more information, see Open in the Cloud: Improving the Java Developer Experience on Windows Azure

Bruce D. Kyle
ISV Architect Evangelist | Microsoft Corporation