Microsoft's Windows Azure cloud-computing platform goes live Jan. 1

LOS ANGELES — In a major game changer for both the industry and the company, Microsoft has launched its cloud.

Part of what's billed as the next evolutionary step in computing, the move marks a major expansion and investment. A company that has built software for personal computers is now building software for the metaphorical cloud, where software will run on devices — PCs, mobile phones, televisions — via distant servers and be delivered by the Internet.

Ray Ozzie, chief software architect, said in his Tuesday keynote speech at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC) in Los Angeles that the company is bringing its vision of "three screens and a cloud" to the market Jan. 1.

The company has spent more than three years building the operating system for the service, Windows Azure, and on Tuesday said it was ready for developers.

Over the past year, it has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in building data centers in the U.S., Europe and Asia to handle the cloud. The upside could be tremendous, if Microsoft bet correctly.

"It's not like tomorrow half of Microsoft's revenue is going to come from the cloud," said Bob Muglia, president of Microsoft's Server and Tools Business. "If you look out 10 years, that's very reasonable to assume that."

Microsoft has been talking about the cloud for the past year, but until now it was somewhere over the rainbow.

At PDC on Tuesday, the company brought it down to earth, launching the foundation for developers to start building on the platform.

On Jan. 1, developers can start serving customers on it. For the first month, the service will be free. The company will start billing Feb. 1.

Muglia, at Microsoft for almost 22 years, said the launch is as significant as when the company migrated from text-based software to its first graphical user interface.

Most consumers are already using cloud services, even though they don't use the term. Gmail, iTunes, Hotmail, online banking, Twitter, Facebook are all applications that run in the cloud.

What's new is that cloud platforms like Windows Azure will allow any company, small or large, to build services that run in the cloud publicly or privately.

Microsoft said data centers in Chicago, San Antonio, Dublin, Amsterdam, Singapore and Hong Kong will handle the traffic.

"A cloud is a whole broad way to provide array of services to people of all types and companies of all types," said Muglia.

Competitors, including Amazon.com, Google, Yahoo and Salesforce.com, have already launched cloud platforms. Where Microsoft has an advantage is the ability to leverage its vast developer community that already knows how to build software for Windows.

"It's a cloud OS [operating system] designed for the future but made familiar for today," Ozzie said during his keynote.

Ozzie also announced a new data marketplace code-named Dallas, which will enable developers to build programs using available public and private data. The Associated Press, National Geographic and others have already signed up to provide their private data for a fee.

NASA has made its images of Mars available on Dallas and is holding a developer competition to build applications using the image bank.

Tens of thousands of developers participated in the technical preview of Azure and gave feedback, Ozzie said.

About 30 companies launched internal Azure cloud services Tuesday, including Coca-Cola and Domino's Pizza, both of which are using it to run their ordering system.

Using the cloud, companies do not have to worry about the limits of their own network. If Microsoft delivers on its promise, for instance, Domino's should be able to handle a normal delivery night, as well as the annual spike on Super Bowl Sunday.

Web sites such as Seattle-based Pet Holdings' ICanHazCheezburger, best known for funny cat photos, can also better manage sudden spikes in traffic.

"We need to be able to scale up quickly but we also need to be able to scale down because it's wasteful," said Martin Cron, a developer for the ICanHazCheezburger network. "It's really easy to buy new servers, it's hard to give servers back."

The network announced Tuesday that, using Azure, it is launching OddlySpecific.com, a site featuring funny signs.

Other developers are building services to sell to companies. Guppers, a small startup spread across the globe, including in Sammamish, is focusing on helping small U.S. and Southeast Asian companies communicate to customers and workers through text messaging using Microsoft Azure.

The company built an application for workers on a palm-oil plantation to report by text how many bundles they harvest.

Co-founder Andy Harjanto said his company first used Amazon's Web services, but when Azure was ready for testing, "we right away migrated to Azure," he said. "It's easier to code."

Sharon Pian Chan: 206-464-2958 or schan@seattletimes.com