Microsoft Azure is The New Outlook

by Jorge Escobar on November 17, 2009

I just received an email invitation to try out a new application. I get a lot of those these days, but this one was different.

It was from Microsoft.

microsoft-wpi

It piqued my interest. A Web Platform Installer? Microsoft doing PHP?

I went to the URL provided and I was blown away with the concept behind this application.

Basically Windows could potentially introduce point-and-click cloud computing for the masses in a way that resembles the iPhone application directory but for web applications, once their Azure cloud service is launched.

According to my friend Roberto Bonini, Azure is just the beginning of a frontal attack for the Cloud Computing crown:

rbonini-cloud

The way I see this evolving is that basically you could launch a cloud-enabled version of the Web Platform Installer add an application from the gallery and launch it on Microsoft’s Azure Cloud and that’s it. The application basically handles the database, frontend, and serving in a matter of minutes. Of course developers would need to modify their payloads to be cloud-aware, but this is not something crazy.

There is already an application gallery that you can see. Matt Mullenweg was quoted today that WordPress is one of these applications, so bloggers can start their self-hosted blog in minutes, and there are many more already listed, like SugarCRM and mojoPortal. Microsoft is inviting developers to submit their applications to potentially be run by millions of users.

Windows Azure won’t launch until January 1st, but Microsoft is working hard to position itself as the defacto provider of cloud computing for the masses. This is going to be the Microsoft of the future. You can tell they know this is their new business model: cloud applications.

Microsoft has found their new Outlook.

Author’s note: I have edited the article to express my ideas better in terms of where I am extrapolating and where this is an existing application. For the record, I am big fan of Open Source stack, and as a matter of fact this blog runs on EC2, and I have million hits applications currently running for commercial enterprises on the AWS environment.

Tagged as: azure, microsoft

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{ 4 trackbacks }

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{ 178 comments… read them below or add one }

mbreese November 18, 2009 at 2:26 am

Agreed. I can’t tell how Azure fits in here… It looks like this just installs the tools on your local machine (or I guess server). So, perhaps they are taking the next (perhaps logical) step and assuming that you can use this to install stuff on an Azure instance?

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

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Thomas Schaaf November 18, 2009 at 2:41 am

To complete this deal there has been a Visual Studio Plugin which incorperates PHP out for a while. You can find the German version at http://vsphp.de or the english at http://jcxsoftware.com

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jlees November 18, 2009 at 3:05 am

An idiotproof, point and click cloud solution is definitely what’s needed for cloud to go mainstream (i.e. Joe User thinks nothing of putting his wordpress blog on the cloud). I hadn’t really seen this coming from Microsoft, but kudos to them if they get it right. AWS, GAE etc are still all too hard just to push stuff out – I’ve tried explaining them to tech-savvy laypeople and had zero luck so far.

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

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ivenkys November 18, 2009 at 3:11 am

I am sorry i don’t get it , how can a new "Killer App" be Windows only ? The installer only works on Windows , what happens to the rest of us.

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

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patio11 November 18, 2009 at 3:49 am

Joe User can already get 100% of the benefits of "the cloud" (whatever that means) by getting joeuser.wordpress.com . I don’t see there being much upside for anyone whose relationship with their computer is similar to their relationship with their toaster.What I do see happening is Microsoft doing what they usually do: figure out a way how to become the standard platform for smaller software companies writing niche software for businesses. There are an awful lot of businesses out there who have essentially infinite technology needs and very little capacity to absorb it. Previously, Microsoft said "Here’s a windows computer. Run this installer which cost you $50 from some company using our products. Bam, you now have a need filled without learning how to program yourself."

In the future, I expect it sounds like "Hey, you’ve already got a computer. Cool. Click once and pay our vendor $50, and BAM we’ll give you a website with X business software installed on it. You don’t have to learn anything about programming or system administration."

Now personally, having done downloadable software and web apps, I would prefer to have users pay me directly for access to my web app rather than having them host a copy locally. However, that won’t fly for all businesses, and if Microsoft totally took all the technology pain out of it for them and reduced barriers to purchase by getting payments totally right, well heck, I’d be happy to sell hosted apps.

(Particularly hosted apps which you have to pay for every month or MS will turn off your access for me.)

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

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JasonM80 November 18, 2009 at 3:11 pm

patio11 wrote:
> In the future, I expect it sounds like “Hey, you’ve already got a
> computer. Cool. Click once and pay our vendor $50, and BAM
> we’ll give you a website with X business software installed on it.
> You don’t have to learn anything about programming or system
> administration.”

This is such a great summary of cloud computing and its benefit for businesses.

The subscription-based model as opposed to the one-time purchase of software also makes sense for the end user in many cases. While there are times that it does not make sense, it can often be easier for the customer to make a small payment every month than one large one up-front. Also, new features and bug-fixes can be made available instantly, without the user having to do anything to get them.

(I am contracted by M80, working with Microsoft to promote Windows Azure)

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David Podhola November 18, 2009 at 3:59 am

Call me sloppy, but I do not get how Microsoft Web Platform Installer 2.0 is to be connected with cloud or Azure. You DOWNLOAD IIS and SQL Server, you are not using them from Azure, right?

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Jorge Escobar November 18, 2009 at 10:55 am

I am not saying that the WebPI is already working with Azure; but that knowing how Microsoft is a technology-leveler of sorts (specially for the enterprise) I could see the WebPI evolving into a point-and-click app installer once Azure is deployed, allowing developers to write packages that are cloud-aware to be listed on the apps gallery.

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Robert Allen November 18, 2009 at 4:24 am

The WEB PI is basically for you to easily set up tools , IIS and pick up some apps you can deploy locally on your web server. This is not developed as an Azure application. Azure is a platform for cloud development which we expect more announcements around PDC timeframe. So they are different things.

I am happy ou like the Web PI as it makes it easier to set up a web dev stack on your windows machine.

Rob

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Jorge Escobar November 18, 2009 at 10:59 am

Not yet. If MS is smart, they will…

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nomoresecrets November 18, 2009 at 4:24 am

"I hadn’t really seen this coming from Microsoft"Not even when they first announced it at PDC2008 a year ago?

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

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ErrantX November 18, 2009 at 4:44 am

We sell some ASP.NET (dont get me started) software and this was a god send when it appeared a little while ago. Before our setup procedure (we usually let clients do it themselves due to them being paranoid about letting people on their networks) was just complicated enough to require a phone walkthrough. This makes it a breeze. Click XYZ, then install. Install our app. Slight cfg tweaks. Win.

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

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rbanffy November 18, 2009 at 4:51 am

According to Microsoft, there is no rest of us. At least, there won’t be for long.I’ll flag the article as it looks an awful lot like Microsoft astroturfing. I suggest you do the same.

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

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sriramk November 18, 2009 at 4:53 am

I work for Windows Azure. I’m going to try hard to not make this into a marketing thing. I want to clarify a couple of things from the blog post- The web platform installer is really quite distinct from Windows Azure. The WebPI is a nice installer which gets all the right SDK+ tools installed to get you up and running with MSFT’s web dev stack Windows Azure can run any code that runs on Windows Server (with caveats) and it just so happens that the webpi is a nice way to get something running.

- Windows Azure isnt really MSFT-stack specific (.NET/IIS) though that works real well. There was a bunch of content at PDC this year on how to run MySQL/memcached/php/python/RoR/whatever. Matt Mullenweg did a keynote demo running WordPress on Azure for example.

- The blog post ‘Microsoft is taking applications but in reality, you can just go and sign up and get a token in a very, very short time. After January, the platform billing kicks in so anyone can sign up anytime.

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

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JasonM80 November 18, 2009 at 3:43 pm

Thanks a lot for chiming in and clarifying this.

Azure not being MSFT-stack specific is an interesting move. It certainly will open the platform up to many more applications than otherwise.

As for getting tokens, I found that it actually takes a lot longer than “a very, very short time.” For me, it was about just over a week and some other people have mentioned waiting much longer. Is there a way to speed up the process or at least get a realistic time estimate for a particular case?
Thanks!

(I am contracted by M80, working with them and Microsoft to promote Windows Azure)

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rbanffy November 18, 2009 at 4:56 am

A GAE application marketplace would be a great idea.Is anyone from Google googling this?

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

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Tichy November 18, 2009 at 5:04 am

Yeah, I was really expecting GAE to turn into this. But it would be a first of Google bringing a side project to it’s full potential, I guess.

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

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yxhuvud November 18, 2009 at 5:11 am

Lets see, their previous killer apps also either required Windows, or WAS Windows. I don’t really see how being platform specific affects ability to be a killer app.Obviously depending on how a "killer app" is defined.

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

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dagw November 18, 2009 at 5:24 am

Given that Microsoft has anywhere between 25-45% market share (depending on where you get your numbers) on servers obviously someone is trusting them. And it’s not like the Unix world hasn’t had its share of "braindead misfeatures" over the years.

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

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Locke1689 November 18, 2009 at 5:55 am

Interesting — assuming that it’s a true cloud compute environment (mostly application and language agnostic), is there a reason why the "installer" is Windows only? Is there a way to install and configure a compute node without using Windows?

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

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ivenkys November 18, 2009 at 5:57 am

Platform specific does effect the ability to be a "killer app".Ms Windows being a killer app was in a completely different time period. Any app that has to have game changing ability has to be cross-platform or perhaps run on the web. Anything else and its not a "killer app". It might get the bills paid and be profitable but "killer app" it ain’t.

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

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felixmar November 18, 2009 at 5:58 am

Microsoft won’t like it but Azure needs the ability to run Linux VM instances to compete with Amazon for the position of dominant cloud provider. The announced instance pricing at PDC09 is equal to Amazon’s Windows instances but are 40% more expensive than Amazon’s Linux instances and Amazon’s high-cpu instances offer even better value for very cpu-intensive tasks like transcoding.

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

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richardw November 18, 2009 at 6:23 am

The definition of a killer app is one where somebody will buy the platform just to use your app. By its nature it makes you choose a platform.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_application

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

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Pavan Yara November 18, 2009 at 6:35 am

Cool. How come Amazon or Rackspace or Joyent never thought of this. I thought it existed :)

This comment was originally posted on FriendFeed

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Rob November 18, 2009 at 7:04 am

The herd gets told by Microsoft their “new” 10-year behind the curve “technology” is lollipop and believe it must be so.

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Jorge Escobar November 18, 2009 at 11:01 am

I do see a potential here that hasn’t been yet implemented by Amazon, Rackspace or Google. We developers get it, but you’d be surprised how many influential decision makers don’t, and using it might be a step on the right direction.

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flooha November 18, 2009 at 7:10 am

I have an interesting perspective on this since my startup, flooha.com is extremely similar, but actually better in some ways IMHO.First of all, AFAIK, the web platform installer just sets up your PC to be a web server (IIS, mysql, etc…), then installs a default setup for the application you chose to install. So, you can play with it on your local PC, but it is not a public website unless your PC is your web server. So, if you don’t have at least a VPS, you cannot use this to create your website. The blogger has it wrong when he says you can install on azure.

Flooha does exactly the same thing, except on a real, public facing web server. You can use it immediately on a free subdomain like username.flooha.com (on an EC2 instance) or you can sign up for hosting and use it to install software on your web hosting account (a dedicated server). There are already other apps that do exactly the same thing like Fantastico, Simple Scripts, Installatron, etc… Nothing new or revolutionary there. We will soon implement the ability to auto-install on any cPanel or Plesk server and the ability for developers to upload their PHP and Rails apps.

It’s not clear from the MS web site whether you can install these web apps "in the cloud" (on azure?) or not. Even if you can, do you still get all of the other features of a traditional web host like a control panel, ssh, email, backups, cron jobs, forwarders, statistics, file manager, etc…? If you can install to the cloud, obviously the auto-scaling aspect is great even though most website will never need it.

Flooha’s unique service is the ability to auto-install addons. Apps like WordPress now have their own addon (plugin) installer, but many apps, especially new ones, do not. Also, addons that are not in the WP repository are not available for auto-install. This is the gap that Flooha fills, in addition to auto-install of apps, 1-click backups to S3, 1-click restores, private addons and more. If you’ve ever worked with an app like osCommerce or MediaWiki, you’ll know that installing addons is a real pain.

I’ll admit to being jealous of MS’s army of people working on this as well as their visually pleasing website, but I’m not particularly impressed by the service. I’m curious if sriramk or someone else more familiar with the web platform installer can give more insight on the service and rebutt some of my comments.

If people are really that impressed, I think I need to increase my marketing budget.

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

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brown9-2 November 18, 2009 at 7:22 am

What in the world does this have to do with Outlook?

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flooha November 18, 2009 at 7:25 am

<shamelessplug>…until you have to install a lot of extensions, which you normally have to do manually. This is the problem Flooha solves. </shamelessplug>

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

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jacquesm November 18, 2009 at 7:37 am

Flooha is cool & useful stuf people, go check it out!

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

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colinplamondon November 18, 2009 at 7:43 am

They had about eight and a half layers of marketing bullshit during the presentation and on the website- if you squinted real hard while hopping up and down on one foot with a tin foil hat in correct alignment, it looked like something resembling a good solution to a real problem.Now more information is coming out in an accessible way about what Azure actually is, no hat alignment necessary.

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

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gvb November 18, 2009 at 7:51 am

Nothing.It is just an analogy. According to the article, what Outlook is for Microsoft’s application suite, Microsoft’s Azure (or web platform installer per another comment) will be for cloud computing.

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

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gvb November 18, 2009 at 7:52 am

Nothing.It is just an analogy. According to the article, what Outlook is for Microsoft’s application suite (Microsoft’s PHB lock-in), Microsoft’s Azure (or web platform installer per another comment) will be for cloud computing.

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

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