Partner Otaku

Yesterday was a big day for Automattic and Microsoft folks. Matt Mullenweg demonstrated WordPress hosted on Azure during Ray Ozzie’s keynote. I was pleasantly surprised to see support for MySQL.  Very cool imho. This will give WordPress users/hosters access to Azure. I think Matt stated that he saw “Pigs” out of his office windows .  Additionally, icanhazcheezburger (lolcats, failblog etc.), the largest WordPress site, announced that their new property “Oddly Specific” is now hosted on Azure.

Check out this cool pumpkin carving app.  This was created by Archetype a Microsoft Partner.  http://bit.ly/1glQa2

I often get a lot of questions about the Azure benefits associated with MSDN and the BizSpark Program.  Here is a good posting and I’ve included the table below for easy reference.

Mise en place is a French cooking term that essentially means “everything in place”. Cooking is so much easier when all the prep work is done and all the ingredients are within easy reach. 

If you’re new to Azure, I hope my little “resources en place” will make your day a little easier.

Need an Azure account?

• Get a Free Windows Azure CTP account

Join the Community:

• The community at channel 9

Learn:

• “How Do I” videos
• Azure Webcasts
• Training kit
• Sample projects and snippets:
  • codeplex.com, search “azure”
  • code.msdn.com, search azure

Next Tuesday September 29th, we’ll be holding a webcast about Windows Azure.  We invite you to explore Windows Azure – Microsoft’s platform for building and deploying cloud based applications – within Microsoft. During this event, we’ll review critical lessons Microsoft IT has learned migrating internal line-of-business applications to Windows Azure.

The webinar will answer:

What is Windows Azure? When should I use it? How does it apply to my job?  Whether you’re an IT Professional, Developer or Architect, we’ll address top of mind questions about cloud computing.

TechNet Events Presents – for the IT Professional from 8:30am to noon

In this session, we will discuss:

• Azure architecture from the IT professional’s point of view
• Why an IT operations team would want to pursue Azure as an extension to the data center
• Configuration, deployment and scaling Azure-based applications
• The Azure roles (web, web service and worker)
• Azure storage options
• Azure security and identity options
• How Azure-based applications can be integrated with on-premises applications
• How operations teams can manage and monitor Azure-based applications

TechNet LIVE Webcast | REGISTER >>

MSDN Events Presents – for the Developer & Architect from 1:00pm to 5:00pm

In this session, we will discuss:

• Cloud computing architectures in general and the Azure architecture in particular
• Several aspects of Azure from the developer’s and architect’s perspective
• Azure roles (web, web service and worker)
• Azure storage options
• Azure security and identity options
• How Azure-based applications can be integrated with on-premise applications
• Configuration, deployment and scaling Azure-based applications
• How development teams can optimize their applications for better management and monitoring

MSDN LIVE Webcast | REGISTER >>

Yesterday we announced the availability of the free trial of Microsoft SQL  Azure Community Technology Preview (CTP). SQL Azure Database is a cloud based service built on technologies from MS SQL Server. This will allow for pay-as-you-go and provide enterprise class availability and data protection.

One of the primary goals of the Windows Azure Platform is to ensure that PHP developers can take advantage of SQL Server or SQL Azure Database. Yesterday, the CTP for the SQL Server Driver for PHP was released and available for download.

SQL Azure CTP Download

SQL Server Driver for PHP 1.1 CTP Download

Today we announced pricing for Azure.  Lot’s of press on this already, but I wanted to provide a new link to hit for more information specifically for partners about Azure.

Azure Partner Quickstart Portal

If you’re not familiar with ARCast.TV on Channel9, it’s a series of interviews with influential architects providing perspective and architectural insight.  This week topic is Windows Azure with David Chappell.  David recently updated his white paper, “Introducing the  Azure Services Platform”.

New CloudApp() is a US-based developer challenge for .NET & PHP developers creating cloud applications or services on the Azure™ Services Platform. There are 3 contest categories with grand prizes of a $5000 VISA gift card for .NET and PHP, and $2500 for the Community winner. Have your application judged by industry leaders Om Malik and Michael Cote and share your cloud coding skills with other developers. Grand Prize Winners will be announced at Structure 09 and featured on azure.com.

Get More Information:  http://www.newcloudapp.com/