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Microsoft wants its customers to know two things: that
Windows 8 is ready for the enterprise and that it has products and services for creating flexible hybrid cloud environments -- a cloud OS.
Those are the two big messages the company pushed at its TechEd North America 2012 conference here, where some parts of those ideas resonated with customers, but others were met with skepticism.
"Move development to the cloud? That's a pretty good idea," said Andre Beaupre, president of Groupe ABI, a
data center consultancy in Montreal. He was embracing Microsoft's spin that Windows
Server 2012 plus its upgraded cloud offering, Azure, equals a cloud operating system that can boost capacity on the fly as needed for developers.
Microsoft also says its cloud OS can front-end
applications while keeping data those apps use safe at corporate sites, and that it supports moving entire virtual servers -- including
Linux servers -- in and out of Azure.
