Windows Azure cloud computing platform is hailed as the best option for developers. Though Salesforce.com, Amazon Web Services, Google and IBM may disagree, Microsoft maintains that its developer story flexibility puts the company in the forefront among cloud solution providers.

Amitabh Srivastava, senior vice president of Microsoft’s Server and Cloud Division, said speaking about the beginning of Microsoft cloud servers, Windows Azure targets developers. Said Srivastava: “We support any language and multiple frameworks. We provide a rich ecosystem of technology or you can use open-source software like MySQL or Apache. Our approach is we don’t put any shackles on the developer.” Learn what other ways Microsoft claims Windows Azure is a contender for title of the best cloud platform for developers.

The Azure cloud platform lets developers use familiar languages and tools of choice. It also supports application development and other industry standards while enabling non-Microsoft runtimes such as PHP, Tomcat and MySQL. Microsoft and its partners are delivering interoperability SDKs, including Eclipse tooling support, PHP, Java and Ruby SDKs.

Being the top cloud hosting for developers hasn’t been easy for Azure. Windows Azure provides a low adoption curve for developers considering Platform-as-a-Service (PAAS). Developers can leverage existing skill sets with .NET and tight integration with Visual Studio tools to simulate cloud locally. This has helped the top developers know that cloud hosting is the easiest and most cost effective option out there.