At a conference in London earlier this week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer mentioned an intriguing piece of software. He nicknamed the software "Windows Cloud" and said it would be an "operating system . . . intended for developers writing cloud-computing applications," but he declined to get into more detail before the official launch.
After letting bloggers and news sites speculate over the nature of this effort, Ballmer spoke a little more about Windows Cloud at conference in France yesterday. According to CNet, Ballmer explained, "Just as we have an operating system for the PC, for the phone, and for the server, we need a new operating system that runs in the Internet." He elaborated by saying Windows Cloud "will be a place where you can run arbitrary applications up in the Internet that runs .NET."
Ballmer added that Microsoft has already brought .NET to the browser with Silverlight, and Silverlight allows Microsoft to target non-Windows systems. That implies Windows Cloud could rely on Microsoft's Adobe Flash lookalike instead of the asynchronous JavaScript and XML toolkit many others use to make their web apps. We should find out for sure by the end of the month—Ballmer reiterated that Microsoft's grand announcement will come "in four weeks."
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