Windows Azure is being released in stages, Microsoft said on the Windows Azure blog. For example, support for native code is due this year. More information on a roadmap for Azure Services Platform and Windows Azure is due early this year. Azure provides the foundation of the Azure Services Platform, which assists developers in building applications that can span from the cloud to the datacenter, PCs, the Web, and phones.

In another developer-related release, Microsoft last week published source code for Silverlight 2 controls.

"With the release of this source code as well as having access to the source for the , you should have some great base implementations to extend and learn from," said Microsoft's Tim Heuer, a program manager for Silverlight, in a .

The code was released under the Microsoft Public License (Ms-PL). It is code for controls in the Silverlight runtime and SDK.