Why services like Azure are the future.

I first user Amazon EC2 and then recently I am using Windows Azure hosting my site todayamerican.com on it. At first I used it just to understand why this is so popular and people are moving to the cloud. Many companies may use Amazon EC2 but I see that a lot of IT departments may want to deploy private "clouds" on VM's because of the low running costs.

However, services like Windows Azure I feel are more useful because using the cloud as a remote desktop I feel is not really utilizing the full value of it. Even with a web service API, ultimately you still have to deal with installing stuff on these machines and then you realize this is nothing other than your data center sitting somewhere else.

The best thing about Windows Azure which any developer or company would like is the fact that applications developed for Azure can be pushed to the cloud without worrying about VMs or servers. And, as an icing on the cake, Windows Server 2012 now allows you to setup an Azure like environment using your own hardware as well.

This is revolutionary to say the least, because if you are like me and write code and you are willing to work hard, with the least amount of money, you can deploy your service to Azure.

Because your "instance" is just your app, you don't have to pay exorbitant VM costs like in Amazon. You can increase your instances to scale, and you can see your instances from any computer in the world from the browser.

You can update the software from any DEV machine, and it gets deployed to these servers hosted in the Azure cloud. This is the greatest democratization for developers because if you are Zuckerberg, you have the same chances as succeeding with good software like the bug guys, and you can scale up slowly without expensive costs.

I have tried with my own servers before and anyone who has done the same will agree with me, that managing server problems are an issue even for companies who buy commercial servers. And even something like SQL Server can utilize significant server resources. What if you are in the path of a hurricane and you lose power like in the east coast?

Yesterday night, I deployed my last remaining service to the Azure cloud, and I am quite happy because I am going on vacation and my site will be up and running even when all appliances in my home are switched off. I can see the health of my instances even from my home country and restart or upgrade them from anywhere.

Amazing! - Apple is doing great work with their eco systems but MS has a winner here. I wish they would let other companies do client OS and just concentrate on providing the best DEV tools and a server environment like this.

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