Introducing Windows Azure: An Introduction to Cloud Computing Using Microsoft Windows Azure

Foreword Forget the buzzword-compliant prognostications of the IT pundits and forget the fevered predictions of open vs. proprietary, because everything is changing and changing fast. Maybe everything is changing so fast that some folks still see cloud computing as a discussion about the future, when in fact it is real, with many popular applications currently running in cloud environments. Cloud computing is just a term for what has been slowly brewing on the back burner for many years. It is the natural evolution of technology. The evolution timeline goes something like this. In the beginning there was the mainframe. The mainframe cost a lot and used a lot of power, so it made sense to sell slices of time to companies needing computing power. After a while, computers became smaller and less expensive and businesses and consumers began buying their own. But then networks began to form, and the eventually ubiquitous Internet was born. This led the way to the idea of the application service provider (ASP). Ah, those were the days.