Windows Azure Cloud
Which is the Top Cloud? Windows Azure Cloud? or Amazon’s AWS Cloud?
Amazon’s AWS cloud computing platform has been the top industry cloud computing provider for several years in a row. Windows Azure Cloud typically ranks within Top 10 industry lists for Cloud Computing Providers, but isn’t one of the top 5 cloud service providers. Why? Many industry insiders feel that Microsoft is often behind the curve in launching and maintaining new technologies aside from its popular software and OS megapoly.
Microsoft’s Successes and Failures
One example of Microsoft’s weakness in rolling out a viable and popular product would be the Windows smartphone which is perceived to be the most anemic phone in the smartphone market. Windows Phone 8 has not gained the market share that Microsoft envisioned. One of the issues behind the near failure of the Windows smartphone is that Microsoft got into the smartphone biz late in the game. Usually, those who enter the tech game late, are not successful in claiming brand loyal consumers or market share.
Neither did Microsoft Silverlight succeed in the marketplace. Silverlight was developed to rival Flash and was touted to take over Flash especially when HTML5 rolled out. Instead, Silverlight tanked and its lingering, negative image to the user is that MS Silverlight may not be safe to install as it may cause computer viruses.
Windows Azure cloud services are virtual products with exponential growth if Microsoft is able to command customers and market share. Microsoft has mega money to sink into its projects and no doubt it will continue to allocate more funds to develop Windows Azure. Microsoft execs have also reiterated their commitment to the cloud and have placed priority on developing further Windows Azure features and open additional cloud storage centers worldwide.
Microsoft Cloud Products
This past year, Windows Azure’s reputation took a huge dent due to an outage which impacted both U.S. and European users due to a miscalculation in not factoring leap year. This outage is still referred to as the “Leap Year Outage” and was attributed to gross human error in not taking the leap year calendar into account.
Unlike Microsoft’s more profitable competitors, cloud computing analysts doubt that the Windows Azure Cloud is profitable at this point. However, analysts clarify that it can take years before such an expensive venture gets out of the red and into the black. Microsoft also features tailored private cloud products such as Office 365 and Windows Server 8. Perhaps these corporate and business oriented cloud products and Windows branded services will fare better in the near future than Windows Azure Cloud.
