SQL Server on Azure is not. I ramped up on Linux and MongoDB and have that working working on Azure. I finally gave up on Windows and SQL Server and have been rewarded.

The company's Transparent Data Encryption option, borrowed from SQL Server, is now generally available as part of numerous upgrades to its cloud database platform.

With Windows Azure IaaS, IT shops comfortable with running their own on-premises servers are just a few clicks away from running those servers in a VM on Microsoft's cloud offering.