Microsoft's Azure and Windows 7 could improve the company's tarnished reputation. With Microsoft’s PDC conference well under way, the company is focused on a delivering a powerful 1-2 punch: Azure in the cloud and Windows 7 on desktops and servers. Microsoft is coming from behind Amazon and others with respect to cloud computing and with a tarnished reputation for Windows due to the lackluster performance of Vista. Still, you should never underestimate Microsoft. It does its best work when faced with strong competition.Azure looks interesting as a hosted environment for Microsoft’s runtime infrastructure, but it’s obviously a Microsoft-only solution. So if you’re currently using Microsoft tools and runtime, it may be interesting, but for those who are looking for open solutions, Azure is unlikely to fit your needs. Meanwhile, for a lot of business buyers and consumers, Windows Vista has become a nonstarter. Face it, who wants their OS upgrade to be a Dave Letterman joke? So Microsoft has to do some damage control with Windows 7. It’s still more than a year away, but Microsoft is trying to distance Windows 7 from Vista. It’s focusing on making the OS run leaner and faster, which is a good thing. If the company can improve boot times relative to XP, that could be compelling for laptop users. InfoWorld has published a special report on this year’s PDC conference. You can also view presentations and keynotes from PDC online, but you may need to install Microsoft Silverlight in order to do so.What do you think of Microsoft’s latest news? Would these announcements cause you to reassess Microsoft or adopt more of their technology? Or is it just more of the same old? Let me know what you’re thinking. Open Source