If you've been tuning into some of the news from Microsoft's PDC (Professional Developer Conference), you'll have heard about Window's Azure, Microsoft's new operating system for the cloud. There is a pretty good video introduction on Channel9 by Manuvir Das, Director in the Windows Azure team.

Here is a summary description:

Is Windows Azure a new OS from Microsoft? Well, sort of, but not in a strict sense (e.g., Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008). That said, one could say that Windows Azure extends Windows to the cloud. That is, Windows Azure provides a highly scalable virtualization fabric for server-side application execution, deployment, automatic management, and simple storage. Windows Azure provides the base infrastructure for services in the cloud. 

Quite a mouthful, I know - but thankfully the video is far more straightforward! No powerpoints - just Manuvir and a white board! :)

By the way, if you want to hear more about what's coming out for developers from Microsoft, I'd recommend checking out the PDC keynotes - there are being streamed live at http://microsoftpdc.com. I believe Ray Ozzie is also doing today's keynote at 8:30am PST, or 3:30pm Irish time.