Windows Azure and Google Chrome: the Future of Cloud Computing
Jul 14, 2009 - By mikepayne
Windows Azure and Google Chrome – This afternoon, Microsoft revealed pricing and release details for their Windows Azure cloud computing OS. Azure will be offered on a cost-per-consumption model, with computing services starting at $.12/hour with storage costs starting at $.15/GB. One has to wonder, however, if the recent release of Google Chrome OS was launched to be a direct competitor with Windows Azure upon its release. While Chrome appears to be intended for netbooks, it is no secret that Google Chrome has a future in cloud computing– one whose pricing will be dependent upon the server itself, not the enterprise model offered up by Microsoft today.
Google’s Chrome OS is intended to run most of its’ applications directly within the Chrome web browser. As is usual with google services, word processing, IM, email, photos, calendar apps and otherwise are all web-based apps that run in a web browser. Chrome OS will manage this functionality the same, not on separate apps that are launched from a typical OS’s desktop.
Microsoft’s recent revelation of Office 2010 includes web apps that should compete with Google Documents. Will these be the apps that operate on a Windows OS in Windows Azure upon its release as well? Possibly so. Microsoft’s introduction of web-based office apps might have shown their cards on the cloud computing systems of Windows Azure. Like Google’s Chrome OS and its potential in cloud computing, Windows Azure could run off a light OS, basically an extension of Internet Explorer using web-based apps for common desktop software.
When and if the two compete for the future cloud computing market, Google may once again have the upper hand by offering a free service to their users. Should Microsoft justify it’s pricing (and shed it’s poor image on network computing), the fight might just end up being a fair one. For now, it is hard to argue that these recent weeks have been a huge step forward for the future of cloud computing technology.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 9:17PM
How can you even compare the two? Azure apps will run just fine on Google Chrome (or IE or Firefox or Safari). You do realize that Azure is a strictly Microsoft hosted server and Google Chrome OS is a client software?
Wednesday, July 15, 2009 4:33AM
Poor article. Windows Azure and Google Chrome OS don't compete against each other at all, and any attempt at saying they do so is a massive stretch – applications running on the Azure service can run in Google Chrome OS, and Microsoft's push towards the web will only drive adoption of web applications and make Google's suite look more legitimate as they now compete on equal footing.
A valid, direct comparison would be Windows Azure versus Google App Engine.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009 6:21AM
Perhaps it wasn't explained quite clearly:
"Like Google’s Chrome OS and its potential in cloud computing, Windows Azure could run off a light OS, basically an extension of Internet Explorer using web-based apps for common desktop software."
The supposition here is that Microsoft would, as they've historically operated, provide a client OS required for their Azure system. The client OS operating on Azure would compete with Chrome, and I have a hard time seeing Microsoft offering anything remotely similar to an open environment. While I explained it quite clumsily above, the suggestion is that Microsoft will try to compete with Chrome OS for the client OS operating on its' cloud. So you have Windows Azure, but does anyone NOT expect them to provide/suggest/require some sort of OS for users? This is why Chrome might compete directly with Microsoft's plans for cloud computing in the future, albeit that each company is taking separate approaches.