Windows Azure - Learning Resources

While the Windows Azure documentation is pretty comprehensive and developer friendly, there are some other great resources as well:

1. Channel 9 Microsoft DevRadio 21-part video tutorial series - Looking to get started with Windows Azure without poring over text? Check out the 21-part video tutorial series "Practical Azure with Jim O’Neil":
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  1. Azure Basics: 11 minutes, 13 seconds
  2. What to do with Blobs?: 15 minutes, 14 seconds
  3. Why do we need Drives?: 9 minutes, 23 seconds
  4. Using the Content Delivery Network (CDN): 10 minutes, 33 seconds
  5. Table Storage Overview: 15 minutes, 44 seconds
  6. Windows Azure SQL Database: 19 minutes, 25 seconds
  7. SQL Database Federations: 18 minutes, 42 seconds
  8. SQL Data Sync: 18 minutes, 3 seconds
  9. Windows Azure Web Sites: 11 minutes, 35 seconds
  10. Web Roles: 15 minutes, 36 seconds
  11. Worker Roles: 8 minutes, 26 seconds
  12. Caching: 17 minutes
  13. Windows Azure Queue Storage: 13 minutes, 12 seconds
  14. Windows Azure Virtual Machines - Part 1: 21 minutes, 23 seconds
  15. Windows Azure Virtual Machines – Part 2: 15 minutes, 33 seconds
  16. Traffic Manager: 13 minutes, 53 seconds
  17. Identity: 18 minutes, 59 seconds
  18. Service Bus: 11 minutes, 26 seconds
  19. Virtual Networks: 13 minutes, 10 seconds
  20. SQL Reporting: 13 minutes, 31 seconds
  21. HDInsight Service: 15 minutes, 59 seconds
  22. Windows Azure Marketplace
  23. Windows Azure Media Services
  24. Windows Azure Mobile Services
  25. Conclusion 
2. Free Windows Azure ebooks in the Technet E-Book Gallery for Microsoft Technologies - Detailed, though not beginner-level, freely download-able ebooks. "Introducing Windows Azure for IT Professionals" is a new book that hasn't yet been added to list. This book explains most of the Windows Azure services in detail with screenshots.

3. Channel 9 hosts video recordings of TechEd sessions conducted around the world. To catch the latest developments in Azure, pick the most recent TechEd events in the list and filter search for sessions on Azure. In the Azure Friday series, Scott Hanselman sits down with the actual engineers who build Microsoft Azure on his journey to learn how to program the cloud. Each episode (there are 75+ as of June 2014) is typically under 10 minutes and available in multiple audio and video formats. The videos come with subtitles, so you can also choose to just read the transcript.

4. Microsoft Virtual Academy has over a dozen free video courses on Windows Azure for IT Pros and developers.

work in progress...

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