Windows Azure Officially Becomes Microsoft Azure on April 3, 2014 update from March 2014

We mentioned a rumor yesterday (based off a Mary Jo Foley report), that Microsoft would be rebranding its Windows Azure service to better reflect a more open, less Window-tized Cloud service, and that it would be renamed to "Microsoft" Azure.

Today, on the Windows Azure blog (yes, the blog still reads "Windows" Azure), Steven Martin has announced that the rebranding is a real thing, and that the changeover will happen on April 3, 2014.

In the post, Martin goes over the reasons for the rebranding, stating that the current "Windows" branding no longer reflects Microsoft's renewed strategy and focus. He also uses examples such as Python, Ruby, Node.js, Java, Hadoop, Linux, and Oracle to show that Microsoft Azure is no longer a Windows-centric service.

The change is a good one. However, we may also see this as an evolution of Microsoft branding for its Cloud services. Some have suggested that the name "Azure" needs to go, too, and Microsoft may already be moving in that direction. A recent video commercial mentions Azure, but only lumps it with Microsoft's other Cloud services under a single "Microsoft Cloud" umbrella.