（CSDN记者/Jimmy Gan 编译/彭一凡）洛杉矶时间2008年10月27日，在PDC2008的主题演讲中，微软首席软件架构师Ray Ozzie宣布了微软的云计算战略以及云计算平台——Windows Azure。Windows Azure以云技术为核心，提供了软件+服务的计算方法。它也是Azure服务平台的基础。Azure由微软主导开发，用于帮助开发者开发下一代应用程序。这些应用程序将可以跨越云端和专业数据中心，在PC、Web和手机间创造完美的用户体验。

会议上，Ozzie仔细描述了 Azure服务平台的功能。Azure能够将处于云端的开发者个人能力，同微软全球数据中心网络托管的服务，比如存储、计算和网络基础设施服务，紧密结合起来。这样，开发者就可以在“云端”和“客户端”同时部署应用，使得企业与用户都能共享资源。Ray Ozzie说道。“今天，无论对于开发社区还是对于微软来说，都是一个转折点。我们所提出的技术将改变原来的游戏规则，同时为Web开发者和企业开发者带来新的机遇。微软会保证Azure服务平台自始至终的开放性和互操作性。我们确信企业的经营模式和用户从Web获取信息的体验将会因此改变。最重要的是，这些技术将使我们的用户有能力决定，是将应用程序部署在以云计算为基础的互联网服务上，还是将其部署在客户端，或者根据实际需要将二者结合起来。

与当今流行的基于服务的解决方案不同，Azure服务平台使开发者能够在原有的技能、工具和技术（比如微软的.NET Framework，VS等）的基础上，进一步提高应用程序开发的灵活性和有效性。当然，开发者也可以选择其他的商业或者开源的开发工具或技术，然后通过Azure服务平台提供的通用Internet标准，比如HTTP、REST、WS-*和AtomPub来进行操作。Azure提供的基本组件包括：

• Windows Azure，用于服务托管，以及底层可扩展的存储，计算和网络的管理

• Microsoft SQL Services，用于各种数据库服务

• Microsoft .NET Services，与.NET Framework的工作流、访问控制等概念相似，但是提供了基于服务的实现

• Live Services，提供了一种一致性的方法，使得用户可以在PC、手机、PC应用程序和Web网站上存储、共享、同步文档、照片、文件以及任何信息

• Microsoft SharePoint Services and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Services，用于在云端提供针对业务内容、协作和快速开发的服务

当与其他核心技术（比如虚拟化等）结合以后，服务技术将会给IP业带来更多好处。这些技术可以构建一个崭新而多样的世界，它使得IT部门可以不再关注操作成本，而是把精力集中在构建不同的业务系统上。这样IT部分就会变得更具战略性。在本次大会上，Epicor软件公司的研发高级副总裁Paul Farrell说，“现在只有少数公司可以对云计算的实现作出承诺。我们对Azure服务平台的强大能力感到兴奋不已。我们相信，由微软倡导并领导的软件+服务模式，会在我们构建用于优化‘云端’和‘客户端’的解决方案时，为Epicor客户带来更多好处。”

据悉，参加PDC2008的开发者还将有机会试用Windows Azure云计算平台的社区技术预览版(CTP)，以体验该平台的功能和特性，来决定是否将其应用于今后的开发中。

以下附CSDN记者稿件原文：

For Release 9 a.m. PDT

Oct. 27, 2008

Microsoft Unveils Windows Azure at Professional Developers Conference

Company releases comprehensive Azure Services Platform for the cloud, offering unprecedented power of choice and open connections for developers.

LOS ANGELES — Oct. 27, 2008 — Today, during a keynote speech at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference 2008 (PDC2008), Ray Ozzie, Microsoft Corp.’s chief software architect, announced Windows Azure, the cloud-based service foundation underlying its Azure Services Platform, and highlighted this platform’s role in delivering a software plus services approach to computing. The Azure Services Platform is an industry-leading move by Microsoft to help developers build the next generation of applications that will span from the cloud to the enterprise datacenter and deliver compelling new experiences across the PC, Web and phone.

Ozzie described how this platform combines cloud-based developer capabilities with storage, computational and networking infrastructure services, all hosted on servers operating within Microsoft’s global datacenter network. This provides developers with the ability to deploy applications in the cloud or on-premises and enables experiences across a broad range of business and consumer scenarios. 

“Today marks a turning point for Microsoft and the development community,” Ozzie said. “We have introduced a game-changing set of technologies that will bring new opportunities to Web developers and business developers alike. The Azure Services Platform, built from the ground up to be consistent with Microsoft’s commitment to openness and interoperability, promises to transform the way businesses operate and how consumers access their information and experience the Web. Most important, it gives our customers the power of choice to deploy applications in cloud-based Internet services or through on-premises servers, or to combine them in any way that makes the most sense for the needs of their business.”

Unlike many of today’s service-based solutions, the Azure Services Platform provides developers with the flexibility and ability to create applications while taking advantage of their existing skills, tools and technologies such as the Microsoft .NET Framework and Visual Studio. Developers also can choose from a broad range of commercial or open source development tools and technologies, and access the Azure Services Platform using a variety of common Internet standards including HTTP, representational state transfer (REST), WS-* and Atom Publishing Protocol (AtomPub).

Key components of the Azure Services Platform include the following:

• Windows Azure for service hosting and management, low-level scalable storage, computation and networking

• Microsoft SQL Services for a wide range of database services and reporting

• Microsoft .NET Services which are service-based implementations of familiar .NET Framework concepts such as workflow and access control

• Live Services for a consistent way for users to store, share and synchronize documents, photos, files and information across their PCs, phones, PC applications and Web sites

• Microsoft SharePoint Services and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Services for business content, collaboration and rapid solution development in the cloud

Services technologies, when employed alongside other core technology enablers such as virtualization and modeling, will result in dramatic benefits for customers’ IT departments. Specifically, these technologies will enable a new and more dynamic world, where IT departments can drive down operating costs, focus their spending on systems that differentiate the business, and ultimately enable IT to become a more strategic asset.

“Only a few companies in the world can bring the promise of cloud computing to reality, and we are excited about the strong capabilities of the Azure Services Platform,” said Paul Farrell, senior vice president of research and development for Epicor Software Corp. “We believe that Microsoft’s initiative and leadership in software plus services will be beneficial to Epicor customers as we architect our solutions to optimize for cloud and on-premises solutions.”

A limited community technology preview (CTP) of the Azure Services Platform was initially made available to developers in attendance at PDC2008, giving them a chance to try out its features and functions and plan for their own future development.