Microsoft Looks to Rent Web Cloud Computing Space

Ray Ozzie, Microsoft's chief software architect, said it will start previewing "Windows Azure," a platform that allows third-party Web developers to host, manage, calculate and store data for applications running on the Internet.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp took the wraps off a new computing service that allows companies to use its data centers to run their Web applications in a bid to become a player in the so-called "cloud computing" trend.

Ray Ozzie, Microsoft's chief software architect, said on Monday it will start previewing "Windows Azure," a platform that allows third-party Web developers to host, manage, calculate and store data for applications running on the Internet.

"It's a transformation of our software. It's a transformation of our strategy," Ozzie said at the Professional Developer's Conference, Microsoft's annual gathering of third-party engineers to detail the company's future plans.

Ozzie, who replaced Bill Gates as Microsoft's top software guru in 2006, is spearheading the company's push into "cloud computing," a trend that taps into computing power in distant data centers and delivers applications over the Internet.

Traditionally, software has run on a single computer's hard drive, but as Internet connections became faster and more reliable, companies started to deliver software as an online service by using the computing power of the "cloud," a network of powerful computer servers accessed over the Web.

The success of Web-based companies such as Google Inc and Salesforce.com Inc in creating online applications competitive with Microsoft has forced the company to embrace a new way of delivering and supporting software.