An idiotproof, point and click cloud solution is definitely what's needed for cloud to go mainstream (i.e. Joe User thinks nothing of putting his wordpress blog on the cloud). I hadn't really seen this coming from Microsoft, but kudos to them if they get it right. AWS, GAE etc are still all too hard just to push stuff out - I've tried explaining them to tech-savvy laypeople and had zero luck so far.
Joe User can already get 100% of the benefits of "the cloud" (whatever that means) by getting joeuser.wordpress.com . I don't see there being much upside for anyone whose relationship with their computer is similar to their relationship with their toaster.
What I do see happening is Microsoft doing what they usually do: figure out a way how to become the standard platform for smaller software companies writing niche software for businesses. There are an awful lot of businesses out there who have essentially infinite technology needs and very little capacity to absorb it. Previously, Microsoft said "Here's a windows computer. Run this installer which cost you $50 from some company using our products. Bam, you now have a need filled without learning how to program yourself."
In the future, I expect it sounds like "Hey, you've already got a computer. Cool. Click once and pay our vendor $50, and BAM we'll give you a website with X business software installed on it. You don't have to learn anything about programming or system administration."
Now personally, having done downloadable software and web apps, I would prefer to have users pay me directly for access to my web app rather than having them host a copy locally. However, that won't fly for all businesses, and if Microsoft totally took all the technology pain out of it for them and reduced barriers to purchase by getting payments totally right, well heck, I'd be happy to sell hosted apps.
(Particularly hosted apps which you have to pay for every month or MS will turn off your access for me.)
One problem with joeuser.wordpress.com is the price, though. At least if you want your own domains, most services seem to cost at least 10$/month (for example also GitHub, Issue Tracker, email?, storage > 2GB, ...). Using an individual provider for each service one might need quickly gets expensive. Atm it would be cheaper to deploy a single vServer with all the required apps.
They had about eight and a half layers of marketing bullshit during the presentation and on the website- if you squinted real hard while hopping up and down on one foot with a tin foil hat in correct alignment, it looked like something resembling a good solution to a real problem.
Now more information is coming out in an accessible way about what Azure actually is, no hat alignment necessary.
People announce stuff relating to technologies I don't use at conventions I don't go to all the time. A quick google suggests that it was more the concept of Azure that was announced, not its point-and-click accessibility (the WebPI). Even if I'm wrong on that, once again HN has confused me saying "I didn't..." with "Nobody did...". Sigh.
