AWS to ISVs: Let us vaporise your Windows apps
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Hot on the heels of its announcement that cloudy Widows Server instances are now available in its EC2 service, Amazon Web Services has started to court developers whose applications run on Microsoft’s servers.
The cloudy company’s pitch is that if an ISV’s app is in the AWS marketplace, ISVs can get into the software-as-a-service caper with a minimum of effort. ISVs will also be exposed to the hordes of folks who trawl the AWS online catalogue every day, which will in turn mean customers use applications almost without thinking and developers will “find that the sales cycle is dramatically shortened … decisions that once took days or weeks now take just minutes.”
While Amazon is keen to give the impression that ISVs’ bank balances will start to inflate with almost no effort mere moments after they enter the marketplace, entry to the online store is not open to everyone.
The following prerequisites, for example, must be met before ISVs start the work of packaging their programs for consumption on AWS:
- Sell mature, production software that has been publicly available for at least 9 months
- Sell business and development software in one of our supported categories
- Have a strong track record of customer satisfaction and customer support with at least 10 reference-able customers
- Put an emphasis on strong and clear business operations and ethics
- Prioritize keeping their software current and virus-free
- SaaS sellers should ensure that their product is hosted on AWS infrastructure
The AWS marketplace currently hosts just four apps that have jumped through those hoops - - Parallels Plesk , Quest Toad, MicroStrategy and SAP Afaria – but the company promises “ many more in the pipeline for release in the near future.”
Also in the pipeline, one imagines, is some competitive tension between AWS and Microsoft’s Azure service. Redmond’s preference is surely for Windows developers to go all-in with Azure when contemplating cloud and/or software-as-a-service deployments for their wares.
AWS’ carrot for developers, other than the promise of an instant and eager customer base, is that its free tier now includes Windows Server. That means 750 hours of free server playtime ISVs can use to vaporise their wares. Azure has a similar offering, but it lasts just 90 days. AWS’ free tier allows new customers to spread the 750 hours across a year. ®
COMMENTS
Re: Microsoft enterprise price increases steepened.
As opposed to that well known anti-microsoft troll Eadon.
General Warning: Anyone who disagrees with Eadon is accused of being paid by Microsoft. The best way to deal with a troll is to ignore their comments and not respond.
Re: Microsoft enterprise price increases steepened.
"ZDNet are closely allied with Microsoft and depend on them for ad revenue, so I wouldn't take a ZDNet article very seriously."
Not taking a biased web page seriously was my point - sorry you missed it. You picked one and quoted it as gospel - I picked one which contradicts it.
"That Surface has failed in the market is irrefutable."
At this point that's ridiculous wishful thinking. "Looks likely to fail" might give some semblance of reason.
"Official figures from Microsoft are always manipulated, with channel stuffing, Win 7 installs counted as win 8 installs and other obfuscation and massaging of the figures going on."
Well, you can't reason with someone who just says anything they don't like is made up, so I won't try any more. I won't even bother with any insults after this post because ...
"But as I say, all "Clouds" should be distrusted, as you really do not want too much sensitive data outside your control."
As with your usual comments about the benefits of open source, we know. We don't need you to tell us. And in fairness I have to admit it's unnecessary for me to point out you're a blinkered, self-delusional fanatic. It's the one argument you really make well.
Re: Microsoft enterprise price increases steepened.
Well, this article, of the same date, points to sales increasing.
http://www.zdnet.com/how-are-windows-8-sales-still-too-early-to-tell-7000008228/
As others have pointed out, a lot of people might not be buying new stuff because they don't have to. Not necessarily a reflection of the new product, is it? Presumably increasing costs of - well, everything - might also cause a company to increase it's own prices. I myself am inclined to agree it's a bit soon to say it's a failure.
The flaw in your analysis is only quoting from a page (rather, author) that actually reports in the same manner you post. To quote - ' “Wait for the hard numbers”, otherwise known as the mating call of the Lesser Skulking Microsoft Shill, Redmondus petardsmoochii was heard far and wide this week." ' Doesn't score highly in the objective analysis ratings, does it? Damages your credibility and that of your analysis.
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