MSDN: Double the Azure

Today we are announcing that we are doubling the initial Windows Azure benefits to MSDN subscribers by extending the offer from eight months to 16 months.

Windows Azure is a is a flexible cloud-computing platform that provides developers with on-demand compute and storage to host, scale, and manage web applications on the internet through Microsoft datacenters.

This January we introduced Windows Azure benefits as part of the MSDN Premium, Ultimate and BizSpark subscriptions with an eight month introductory offer. This offer allows MSDN subscribers to take advantage of the benefits of the Windows Azure platform, including the ability to quickly scale up or down based on your business need without the hassle of dealing with operational hurdles such as server procurement, configuration, and maintenance. With Azure, you pay only for what you use.

I encourage MSDN subscribers and BizSpark members to sign up for their Azure benefits if you have not done so already.

More details on this can be found on the Windows Azure Platform Benefits for MSDN Subscribers page.

Namaste!

Comments

• Anonymous
  July 22, 2010
  Hi Somasegar, What are the options if a ASP.Net C# developer wants to develop his own SaaS on Azure without any initial investment? Many other PaaS providers are providing their platforms for free to the developers. They will charge only when the SaaS owner starts earning. Do you have something like this in Azure? Regards http://www.techno-pulse.com/

• Anonymous
  July 23, 2010
  This is nice but I'm too afraid to sign up because I fear that either I'll leave an instance (and therefore the meter) running or perhaps a malicious party could "run up the bill" by sending repeated requests to my service.  I would sign up only if you had an option where I could not provide a credit card and just understand that once I hit my limit the service just stops working until the next month.  I think that's acceptable tradeoff for non-production use.  And I'd like to be able to opt-in to that behavior even for production use.  I don't trust myself to be vigilant enough to monitor this every day.  Perhaps this is all doable even now but you guys never seem to be up front enough about addressing this kind of concern.

• Anonymous
  July 23, 2010
  This is nice but I'm too afraid to sign up because I fear that either I'll leave an instance (and therefore the meter) running or perhaps a malicious party could "run up the bill" by sending repeated requests to my service.  I would sign up only if you had an option where I could not provide a credit card and just understand that once I hit my limit the service just stops working until the next month.  I think that's acceptable tradeoff for non-production use.  And I'd like to be able to opt-in to that behavior even for production use.  I don't trust myself to be vigilant enough to monitor this every day.  Perhaps this is all doable even now but you guys never seem to be up front enough about addressing this kind of concern.

• Anonymous
  July 24, 2010
  If I buy windows 7 profesional can I update three computers or do I need to buy three disks?

• Anonymous
  July 26, 2010
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  October 22, 2010
  I didn't see the option of 16 months when I signed up today using MSDN premium subscription.  I only saw 8 months

• Anonymous
  October 25, 2010
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  April 23, 2011
  Should really be part of the MSDN subscription itself and not subject to a seperate subscription timeline/fee schedule. Why not? Can someone give a rationale explanation why we should be paying the money for an MSDN subscription and not get Azure? Also give an option to opt out of requiring a CC. If I go over the limit I want to be shut off or throttled and not subject to bill shock for development purposes. Also NO offense but I don't trust you guys storing my name and email - much less sensitive data like my CC.