Building Windows Azure's Future with You...

So who am I and what do I do? And, while we’re at it why should you care? Well, let’s get to it! I spend almost all of my time listening to customers & partners (big and small) developing a deep understanding of what they need and want from a cloud computing platform. If you have something you need from Windows Azure, please tell me what it is, why you need it and how you would use it. The bottom line is that’s what I’m here for. My mission is to better understand what you need from Windows Azure and to build plans around how we make the things that "bubble to the top" a reality for our customers in the future. It’s that simple.

We’ve been fortunate in that since PDC last year we’ve experienced a strong interest in the Windows Azure platform while it has been a Community Technology Preview (CTP). No doubt, many of you were some of the early adopters who spent a bunch of time telling me either through e-mails or questionnaires what you need and want from Windows Azure. I really can’t thank you enough for the ideas you shared with me and the Team, I can assure you that we spend a ton of time going through it all. With the enhancements you are seeing to Windows Azure in the past couple of weeks and the new things you'll learn this week I'm confident you'll conclude that the Windows Azure Team has been listening to you closely.

Like the rest of the Windows Azure Team, I couldn’t be more excited that PDC ’09 is almost here. On a personal level, it’s unbelievably satisfying that you’ll finally get to see the work of the super talented Windows Azure Team that I’m fortunate to get to work with on a day-to-day basis. By the way, if you are interested in more frequent updates (than my future blogs posts), follow me @Wickstrand.

Mike

| Mike Wickstrand | Senior Director, Product Planning | Windows Azure | Microsoft |
| Email: mikewic@microsoft.com | Twitter: @Wickstrand |