Cloud Computing: Microsoft Unveils Machine Learning for the Masses

Grazed from NYTimes. Author: Quentin Hardy.

Microsoft has a new strategy to win cloud business: A supposedly comprehensive predictive analysis service — and all you have to do is store your data in Azure, the Microsoft cloud. The service, called Microsoft Azure Machine Learning, was announced Monday but won’t be available until July. It combines Microsoft’s own software with publicly available open source software, packaged in a way that is easier to use than most of the arcane strategies currently in use.

“This is drag-and-drop software,” said Joseph Sirosh, vice president for machine learning at Microsoft. “My high schooler is using this.” That would be a big step forward in popularizing what is currently a difficult process in increasingly high demand. It would also further the ambitions of Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s chief executive, of making Azure the center of Microsoft’s future…

Users of Azure Machine Learning will have to keep their data in Azure, and Microsoft will provide ways to move data from competing services, like Amazon Web Services. Pricing has not yet been finalized, Mr. Sirosh said, but will be based on a premium to Azure’s standard computing and transmission charges…

Read more from the source @ http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/06/16/microsoft-unveils-machine-learning-for-the-masses/?_php=true&_type=blogs&module=BlogPost-Title&version=Blog%20Main&contentCollection=Cloud%20Computing&action=Click&pgtype=Blogs&region=Body&_r=0