Updated: July 13, 2020 (November 17, 2008)
Charts & IllustrationsServices in the Azure Services Platform
An overview of the four core “cloud computing” services in the Azure Services Platform designed to help developers create scalable and reliable applications at lower cost than they can with on-premise or traditional hosted solutions.
| Function | Benefits | Caveats | Likely Audience | Competitors | |
| Windows Azure | Web application hosting and data storage | Scalability and reliability without up-front infrastructure investments | Subset of ASP.NET libraries, different programming model | Web startups, ISVs creating online applications | Amazon EC3, Google App Engine, Force.com |
| Live Services | Access data stored in Microsoft’s consumer online services, sync data among devices | Appeal to Microsoft’s online users, access data and features that would be hard to build | Sync feature not yet available; appeal depends on success of Microsoft’s consumer services | Consumer-facing Web applications and ISVs | Google Data API, |
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