The Cloud: Microsoft Answers Amazon

On Monday, the most important software company in the world has finally answered the question that the industry has been asking for two years: what is Microsoft going to do about the cloud? The answer came last week, at the company's Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles, where chief software architect Ray Ozzie announced Windows Azure, Microsoft's cloud computing platform. The announcement is the November 2008 story, and the story is the lesson: the giants that wait too long to answer the new model become the also-rans of the next era, and Microsoft decided not to wait any longer.

The Cloud is the subject of this article: what Azure is, why Microsoft built it, how it fits the war for the cloud, and what it means for the enterprise customers who run the world's software. The announcement came at the conference on Monday, October 27, and the developer community is still digesting it. This is the story of the cloud, and the story is about the moment the software giant bet its future on the data center.

1. The Announcement

The announcement came at the Professional Developers Conference, the annual gathering where Microsoft talks to the people who build on its platforms, and the announcement was the centerpiece of the keynote. Ray Ozzie, the chief software architect, took the stage and introduced Windows Azure, and the introduction was the company's formal entry into the cloud computing race. The presentation was the declaration: Microsoft was going to be a cloud company.

The announcement was also the timing, and the timing was the pressure. The competitors had been in the cloud for years: the bookseller turned web giant had opened its computing service in 2006, the search giant had launched its platform in April, and the developers had been asking Microsoft the same question: where is your cloud? The announcement was the answer, and the answer was the beginning.

2. The Platform

The platform was the substance of the announcement, and the substance was the design. Windows Azure was described as "Windows in the cloud": a service-based operating environment that ran on Microsoft's data centers, with the computing power, the storage, and the management that the developers needed. The developers would build applications with the tools they already knew, the .NET framework and the Visual Studio, and the applications would run in the cloud, scaled and billed by usage.

The platform was also the architecture, and the architecture was the bet. Microsoft was taking the Windows experience, the developer tools, the enterprise trust, and moving them to the network. The company that had built its empire on the box on the desk was building the operating system of the data center. The platform was the product, and the product was the future.

3. The Race

The race was the context, and the context was the war. The cloud computing market was being defined in real time: the bookseller's computing service was the infrastructure leader, the search giant's platform was the developer darling, and the software giant was the last of the three to arrive. The race was the competition, and the competition was the price of admission.

The race was also the business, and the business was the enterprise. The customers that mattered to Microsoft were the companies and the governments that ran their systems on Windows, and the cloud was the way to keep them: the same tools, the same trust, the same vendor, but in the network. The race was the enterprise, and the enterprise was the prize.

4. The Vision

The vision was the frame, and the frame was the philosophy. Ray Ozzie had written about "Software plus Services" years earlier, the idea that the future would combine the installed software with the networked services, and the Azure announcement was the vision made real. The vision was not the choice between the box and the cloud; it was the bridge between them. The vision was the continuity, and the continuity was the strategy.

The vision was also the admission, and the admission was the change. The company that had made its fortune by selling the software that ran on the customer's own computers was now saying that the computers could be somewhere else, run by Microsoft, billed by the hour. The change was the hardest part of the announcement, and the hardest part was the future.

5. The Customers

The customers were the audience, and the audience was the enterprise. The companies that ran their payroll, their email, their databases, and their business systems on Microsoft software were the customers that the cloud had to serve, and the serving was the promise. The cloud was not a toy for the startups; it was the platform for the Fortune 500, with the security, the compliance, and the support that the enterprise demanded.

The customers were also the developers, and the developers were the bridge. The applications that the developers built with the familiar tools would run in the cloud, and the familiarity was the advantage: the enterprise developers did not have to learn a new world, and the new world came to them. The customers were the trust, and the trust was the asset.

6. The Stakes

The stakes were the future of the company, and the future was the platform. The software industry was moving to the cloud, and the company that owned the cloud platform would own the next era of the industry. The stakes were the dominance that Microsoft had built in the PC era: the Windows, the Office, the developer tools, all of them had to make the journey to the network, or the company would be left behind.

The stakes were also the timing, and the timing was the recession. The economy was collapsing, the IT budgets were being cut, and the cloud was the cost answer: the pay as you go model was cheaper than the data center, and the cheaper was the argument. The recession was the accelerator, and the accelerator was the opportunity.

7. The Lesson

The lesson of the announcement was about the timing of the platform shift, and the timing was the leadership. Microsoft had watched the cloud from the sidelines for two years, and the watching was the risk: the longer the company waited, the further behind it fell. The announcement was the recognition that the platform was shifting, and the recognition was the first step of the survival.

The lesson was also about the bridge. The company did not have to abandon its past to build the future: the Windows, the .NET, the enterprise trust were the bridge, and the bridge was the advantage. The companies that make the transition on their own terms, that carry their strengths across the gap, are the companies that survive the shift. The lesson was the bridge, and the bridge was the strategy.

8. The Future

The future of Azure was the future of the cloud, and the future was the test. The platform would be built, the customers would be won, and the competition would be fought, and the fighting would take years. The announcement was the beginning, and the beginning was the promise: Microsoft was in the cloud, and the cloud was the future of the industry.

The future was also the lesson in the making. The conference was the moment the software giant answered the new model, and the answering was the proof that the giants can change. The cloud was the platform of the next decade, and the platform was being built in the middle of the worst economy in a generation. The Cloud is the November 2008 story, and the story is the lesson: the giants that wait too long to answer the new model become the also-rans of the next era, and Microsoft decided not to wait any longer. The answer was given, and the race is on. The announcement was also the lesson in the art of the platform shift, and the lesson was the sequencing. Microsoft did not announce a finished product; it announced a journey, with the previews, the community programs, and the roadmap that the developers could follow. The journey was the strategy, and the strategy was the patience: the cloud would be built in public, with the developers as the partners, and the partnership was the way the giant would learn the new world. The company that had dominated the box era was learning to serve the network era, and the learning was the beginning of the survival. The developers who left the conference carried the message to the industry: the cloud was coming, and Microsoft was coming with it. The race was on, and the race would define the decade. The company that had taught the world the personal computer was now teaching itself the network, and the teaching was the hardest work of its life. The announcement was the commitment, and the commitment was the promise that the developers and the enterprises had been waiting to hear. The cloud was coming, and the cloud was the future, and the future had a name. The platform would be measured in the years ahead, and the measuring was the test of the bet. The developers who had waited for the answer would build on it, and the enterprises that had trusted Microsoft would follow, and the following was the future. The cloud was the answer, and the answer was the beginning of the next era of the industry.

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