By samdizzy

Windows_Azure

Admittedly, some of the Windows Azure user groups are Microsoft-driven. But some Windows Azure special interest groups (SIGs), including this list, appear to be taking on lives and educational sessions of their own:

Talkin’ Cloud is poking around to see what types of applications and services user group members are launching in the Windows Azure cloud. Near term, Microsoft continues to face plenty of questions about Windows Azure adoption and reliability — especially after the recent Windows Azure Leap Year Outage. But long term, Talkin’ Cloud believes Microsoft will gain critical mass with Windows Azure, especially as Microsoft connects the dots between its own business applications (such as Dynamics CRM) and Azure.

Still, Windows Azure will continue to face intense competition from early market leaders (Amazon Web Services, Rackspace, Google) and emerging market disrupters. An HP public cloud initiative, for instance, is expected to launch within two months.

Microsoft has spent millions of dollars advertising its cloud services platforms. But I wonder: Does Windows Azure’s best hope for mainstream success involve grass-roots user groups, where customers and partners are busy sharing best practices? I’m betting the answer to that question is a solid yes.