

Microsoft BizSpark includes free Azure access - niggler
http://www.microsoft.com/bizspark/azure/

======
Avalaxy
Azure is awesome, especially for startups :-) It's really easy to develop for
(you don't need to set up everything by yourself, just use the available
libraries) and it support virtually every programming language. Furthermore
it's really fast
([http://nasunicdn.s3.amazonaws.com/images/nasuni_infographic_...](http://nasunicdn.s3.amazonaws.com/images/nasuni_infographic_the_state_of_cloud_storage_2013.jpg))
and pretty cheap.

It's a shame it's being ignored by most of the HN community.

~~~
astrodust
It's because of Microsoft's historically hostile attitude towards anything Not
Windows which rubs many people in this community the wrong way.

That and Microsoft's siren song has gotten people into trouble before. Do you
know any Silverlight developers that are still happy?

~~~
cooldeal
The iPad killed Silverlight, not Microsoft. The idea of a plugin-free web
powered by HTML5 will ultimately benefit everyone, especially given security
exploits and performance issues in browser plugins. A case of damned if they
do, damned if they don't.

Silverlight still works on Windows 8 machines. What do you want them to do?
Sue Apple for banning a Silverlight plugin from their tablets and phones?

The actual Silverlight and XAML skills are directly applicable to developing
Windows 8 Store apps and Windows Phone apps.

~~~
astrodust
So the iPod killed the Zune? And the old Windows Phone OS?

Microsoft can abandon anything that's not core to their survival, and right
now that's Windows.

~~~
cooldeal
>Microsoft can abandon anything that's not core to their survival, and right
now that's Windows

First, Microsoft has three major divisions bringing in somewhat equal amounts
of revenue, Windows, Office and Server & Tools.

Second, if you apply the same metric to other companies, it would be foolish
to use OS X, Gmail, Docs. App Engine. Android, and perhaps even Azure.

Third, Microsoft could've competed by making a better Zune, perhaps, but it's
not the same thing as the iPad killing Silverlight, because that was done by
not supporting plugins. Tablets are slowly overtaking PCs in sales, what sense
does it make to push new versions of a plugin that will never run on most of
them?

The transitions have mostly been smooth, VB apps still run on Windows. Hell, a
game bundled with the Windows 95 CD still runs unchanged on a Windows 8
machine.

ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/deskapps/games/public/AAS/Hover.exe

[http://www.johnlamansky.com/blog/the-legend-of-microsoft-
hov...](http://www.johnlamansky.com/blog/the-legend-of-microsoft-hover/)

~~~
astrodust
Google App Engine is a risky bet for the same reason as Azure, and perhaps
even more so. Google could decide tomorrow that it's not worth supporting and
tank it, or change the pricing model to make it no longer cost effective.

I don't think the same thing can be said for Amazon's AWS or other
infrastructure providers like RackSpace where that would be as much as going
out of business.

I'm not saying Microsoft doesn't take care of Windows, if anything they
support it _too_ much, but anything that's not Windows is just one executive
decision away from being shut down.

~~~
outside1234
XBox runs on Azure from what I hear. Its not getting shut down anytime soon.
In fact, if I were a betting man, I'd even go as far as to say that Azure is
the future of Windows Server.

------
outside1234
Another thing to know about BizSpark is that it has higher tiers. If you are
doing something interesting on Azure and it gets traction, you should reach
out to Microsoft and let them know. They have a tier called "Bizspark One"
where you can get $60,000 in free resources and visibility in their customer
base by co-presenting at shows etc.

Finally, they also have an accelerator allied with TechStars in Seattle -
where you can get all of this plus TechStars mentoring:
<http://www.microsoft.com/bizspark/accelerator/>

------
rdl
BizSpark is really one of the best free/open resources for startups that I've
ever seen. It's not as useful as, say, YC, but it's essentially open to any
legitimate startup, and gives you fairly substantial benefits.

------
Jacob4u2
Something that most people might not know about this is that you can spin up
at least 2 small linux instances on this plan.

I run a Node.js app on a small Ubuntu instance with git based deployment
(great guide here based on ec2: [http://cuppster.com/2011/05/12/diy-node-js-
server-on-amazon-...](http://cuppster.com/2011/05/12/diy-node-js-server-on-
amazon-ec2/)). Right now this server also runs my Mongo server, but as we
scale I'll probably move it to its own instance.

------
outside1234
2 small instances and storage for free. Its a great offer - we host our
bootstrapped node.js application on Azure and it works great - and is net free
for us.

~~~
vineet
I was looking for this detail - and not sure where it says you get 2 instances
free. Can you post a link?

Edit: I did my math wrong previously. It is 1500 hours/month.

~~~
outside1234
1500 hours a month - so for a small instance that works out to 2 instances.
Eli below has it right - you can scale that up as well and get a smaller
number of free instance time.

~~~
Avalaxy
Can you also choose to use (more than 2) extra small instances? They provide
better bang for the buck than the small instances.

~~~
cmircea
Sure. And you have 10 of those MSDN subscriptions, one for each developer. You
can't use say 20 small instances for one site, but you can use 2 instances for
20 separate sites/services.

------
ridruejo
Their VM depot is their equivalent to the AWS marketplace and is a good place
to start if you want to launch apps on Azure <http://vmdepot.msopentech.com/>

------
douglascrets
Wow, reading through this and pretty psyched that people want to talk about
this. I run community management in Mountain View for the global BizSpark
program, which gives free software licenses to developers. I am all for
helping you all know more about the program and helping get more information
on Azure. If you all want to chat with me, you can email me at dcrets at
microsoft. Thinking of doing a meetup on Azure and having some tech
evangelists there. We would also livestream. Let me know if anyone is
interested.

------
robryan
It also seems at this stage of development Microsoft are putting a lot of
resources into quality support. Someone at my office started using Azure for
free through biz spark and got someone from Microsoft on the phone who knew
the tech details answering their questions.

Something I couldn't imagine ever getting from AWS or google, especially
before dropping some serious dollars for extra support.

------
neotek
I'm in a techstars-affiliated accelerator in Adelaide (Australia) and part of
our perks include $60k in Azure credits, which is an absolute godsend for
cash-poor startups like ours. There's no way we could afford to do what we're
doing on AWS.

------
spo81rty
My startup is in Bizspark and uses Azure. (<http://stackify.com>) We looked at
AWS vs Azure and decided on Azure due to its PaaS capabilities. It has its
quirks like anything done. Their support is fantastic. We have two local
evangelist type reps, a local sales rep, and have talked to many people
through their tech support. Even exchanged emails with their developers and
management.

I really like their SQL federations and table storage. Both are designed for
massive scale. Although they don't have a true NoSql solution, you can
accomplish most things you would want NoSql for with those two options. I do
wish they would allow secondary indexes on their table storage. It is possible
to use VMs on Azure and use MongoDB or some other product. But part of the
reason we chose Azure is we don't want to administer any of that junk.

Good news about Azure is they use the platform internally which will continue
to drive it's innovation.

------
vyrotek
As others have mentioned, BizSpark is indeed a great program. IActionable.com
just 'completed' the 3 year program. Azure sure has changed quite a bit since
those early days :)

------
wilhil
Ehh... Hasn't it always?

I was on Bizspark which gave MSDN which gave Azure usage as part of the perks
:/

