Grab Bag of Cloudy Links

Hey, it's Friday already! We've got a bunch of links today, most of which are related to the recently published spring update for Windows Azure.

• Overview of the New Windows Azure Package Format: The format for .cspkg files has been updated (and simplified!).
• Generating SSH key pair for Linux VM deployment on Windows Azure: "Linux deployment on Windows Azure requires PEM or DER encoded x509 public key at the provisioning time to enable authenticated remote login through SSH. This  post ... encapsulates key generation into a simple shell script on both Linux and Windows."
• Windows Azure SDK Downloads (for Windows, Mac, and Linux): Did you ever think you'd see this?
• Reintroducing Windows Azure, Part 1: The New Management Portal: David Pallmann provides a tour of the new Windows Azure Management Portal.
• Reintroducing Windows Azure, Part 2: Windows Azure Web Sites:  Davic Pallmann provides a tour of Windows Azure Websites.
• Compute performance in the cloud - EC2 vs Azure: An unofficial comparison of Windows Azure VMs and EC2 VMs.
• Windows Azure Command-Line Tool for Mac and Linux: Doug Mahugh provides a great overview of the Windows Azure Command-Line Tools for Mac and Linux (which also work on Windows :-)).
• Windows Azure Plugin for Eclipse with Java (by Microsoft Open Technologies): "The Windows Azure Plugin for Eclipse with Java (by Microsoft Open Technologies) provides templates and functionality that allow you to easily create, develop, test, and deploy Windows Azure applications using the Eclipse development environment."
• Solr and LucidWorks: enterprise search for Windows Azure: "Lucid Imagination, the leading experts in Lucene/Solr technology, has packaged their LucidWorks Enterprise search service in a cloud-friendly way that requires only four quick and simple steps: select a plan, sign up, log in, and start using it."
• Coding PHP in WebMatrix 2 with Thao Doan (VIDEO): Thao Doan, a program manager on the WebMatrix team at Microsoft, shows you just how far WebMatrix has come in supporting PHP.
• Using WebMatrix for Editing a Windows Azure Website: Using WebMatrix to deploy WordPress to Windows Azure Websites.
• TechEd 2012: New Windows Azure Storage Features, Improved Manageability, and Lower Prices: With the June 7th update to Windows Azure came some improvements to storage.
• How To Copy an Object from Amazon S3 to Windows Azure Blob Storage using “Copy Blob”: A C# application for copying blobs from S3 to Azure. Should be doable in other languages too.
• Twilio Launches Developer Contest at Meet Windows Azure Event: Some great looking prizes!

Have a great weekend!

Larry