If you were one of the developers at one of my talks that was tempted to try Windows Azure, but didn’t want to pay to give the platform a shot, here is your chance. Previously, the only way to get some time on Azure was to have an MSDN Subscription but Microsoft noticed that a lot of their audience that wanted to try out the Azure a Platform didn’t have a subscription.
Microsoft has announced the Windows Azure Introductory Special which offers 25 free hours per month on a Small instance, a Web Edition SQL Azure Database, 2 Service Bus connections to AppFabric, and 500MB of Transfers coming to, and going from the Cloud. This is a fairly decent starting point for someone trying to launch an existing application to Windows Azure.
How do I get started?
If you just came across my blog there are a few posts that you may want to check out to get up to speed on Windows Azure:
You can also get some tools and an a free IDE to help you deploy your project to the cloud.
Where do I sign up?
Head on over to the Windows Azure Offers page, and click the Buy Now button under the Introductory Special.
What do I do next?
Head out to TechDays 2010 for some Training on Windows Azure.
[Update]
The Microsoft DPE Team in Canada is Dedicated to answering your questions about Windows Azure. If you have a question you would like to ask directly to a Microsoft Representative email the Canadian team at
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