Windows Azure: Microsoft’s Answer to the Increasing Irrelevancy of Office

Microsoft has been in a bit of a tizzy lately over how to deal with this newfangled cloud computing. They were quickly falling behind the times as Google and other innovators offered viable alternatives to Microsoft productivity software that could be accessed from anywhere, regardless of what software you had on the computer.

So it was only a matter of time until Microsoft blundered onto the cloud computing scene, waving their arms and claiming they have all the best solutions.

Enter Windows Azure.



Windows Azure is the cloud computing solution that Steve Ballmer has been hinting at for a while. But it was just announced officially today at PDC 2008.

Windows Azure is not an operating system, as expected; instead, it's more like an application hosting service that can make applications available through an internet or network connection, negating the need to install software on each computer in a business.

So how will this affect you? It probably won't for a while. But potentially, it could lead to work environments that are far more mobile. You'll be able to access and edit documents from anywhere. And could also improve all those little nitpicky details that slow you down, like available disk space, load time, etc.

However, this is still Microsoft, so don't expect everything to go smoothly.

We've got plenty of software and laptop reviews to help you make the right choice about all this cloud computing hullaballoo. And don't forget these other blog posts too:

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