windows-azure-logo-lgThe December release of Windows Azure brings many cool new features including extensive support of open source libraries. An overview of the support was announced on Port 25 on Openness Update for Windows Azure.

The announcement includes:

  • We are releasing the Windows Azure SDK for Node.js as open source, available immediately on Github. See Windows Azure Developer Center for documentation, tutorial, samples and how-to guides to get you started with Node.js on Windows Azure.
  • Node package manager for Windows (npm) code to allow use of npm on Windows for simpler and faster Node.js configuration and development.
  • Adding to the recent announcement about Apache Hadoop, we are making available a limited preview of the Apache Hadoop based distribution service on Windows Azure.
  • For NoSQL fans, we have been working closely with 10Gen and the MongoDB community in the past few months. See 10Gen website to find downloads, documentation and other document-oriented goodies. If you’re using the popular combination of Node.js and MongoDB, a simple straightforward install process will get you started on Windows Azure. Learn more here.
  • For Java developers, take a look at the updated Java support, including a new and revamped Eclipse plugin. The new features are too many to list for this post, but you can count on a much better experience thanks to new and exciting functionality such as support for sticky sessions and configuration of remote Java debugging. Head over to the Windows Azure Developer Center to learn more.
  • Does your application need advanced search capabilities? If so, the chances are you either use or are evaluating Solr, and so the good news for you is that we just released a set of code tools and configuration guidelines to get the most out of Solr running on Windows Azure.
  • Another great example of OSS on Windows Azure is the use of Memcached server, the popular open-source caching technology, to improve the performance of dynamic web applications.

For an overview of all of the new features, see Improved Developer Experience, Interoperability, and Scalability on Windows Azure.