A couple of nights ago, I had the privilege of speaking at the New England Microsoft Dev Group in Waltham, MA. The topic covered a general and high-level overview of the broad capabilities of the Windows Azure Cloud Platform, with some specific topics added by attendees as well. It turned out to be an interactive session with good questions from the group.
We agreed I would come back after the summer for an architecture-focused session; the session presented was more feature & technology-oriented.
A few followups:
- Get started with Windows Azure info and downloads from here: http://www.windowsazure.com
- Get a 30 Day FREE TRIAL by starting here: http://aka.ms/iaas
- You may also ALREADY HAVE pre-paid Windows Azure services if you have MSDN: http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/pricing/member-offers/msdn-benefits/
- Learn more about the hosted Team Foundation Service (TFS) here: http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/eng/team-foundation-service
- Get familiar with compliance status through the Windows Azure Trust Center: http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/support/trust-center/
- The Boston Azure Cloud User Group can be found at bostonazure.org
The deck I used is pretty short, but here in case you are interested:
My book, if you are interested, is described here (note: my next talk to the group will cover material more closely associated with the book, which is more focused on patterns and architecture in the context of designing effective cloud applications).
Coding Out Loud 
Hey! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a group of volunteers and starting a new initiative in a community in the same niche.
Your blog provided us beneficial information to work on. You have done a wonderful job!