Microsoft Offers Free Azure Trial

Recalling all those AOL disks promising hundreds of hours of free usage, Microsoft is offering up to 750 free hours of use on its Azure service as an enticement for developers to try cloud computing, the company announced Tuesday.

"This extended free trial will allow developers to try out the Windows Azure platform without the need for up-front investment costs," a Microsoft blog entry explained.

The offer arrives now a few weeks afterwards Microsoft promoted Satya Nadella to head its US$15 billion server and tools business, which includes the Azure offering. The company extolled Nadella's experience in ramping up large-scale consumer-focused cloud services like Bing and hoped he could bring the same magic to getting Microsoft cloud services into the enterprise as so then.

Nascent cloud computing services have been growing more competitive of late. Before this month, VMware announced that a number of new service providers are nevertheless offering Azure-competing VMware-based cloud services, including BlueLock, Computer Sciences Corp., Colt and Verizon.

Joab Jackson covers enterprise software and general innovation breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Joab on Twitter at @Joab_Jackson. Joab's e-mail address is Joab_Jackson@idg.com