Microsoft and Cloud computing

Cloud computing is here to stay. Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), Google's recent release of Chrome and its internet-based applications, Salesforce.com, NetSuite, Apple's MobileMe, etc. are good examples of cloud computing services. Wikipedia has a good article on Cloud computing. Microsoft is providing Cloud computing services and executing its own vision of Cloud computing, software plus service(S+S). Here are several examples of Microsoft's S+S:
  • Red Dog: Microsoft is known to be working on a low-level "Cloud OS" that is code-named Red Dog.
  • Zurich: At the highest level, Zurich is Microsoft’s Software+Services platform.
  • Microsoft Volta : In a nutshell, Volta is Microsoft's version of Google Web Toolkit(GWT). GWT uses Java to generate JavaScript. Volta uses .Net language such as C# to generate JavaScript. As of today, Microsoft volta is technology preview (pre-beta).
  • Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online: Microsoft offers a CRM hosting service through Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online.
  • Microsoft SkyDrive - This is a storage in the Clouds. Once you sign up through Windows Live, you get 5GB of free storage.
  • Microsoft Popfly - It is a Microsoft mash-up tool similar to Yahoo's Pipes.

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