As some people have requested, here is a copy of the Azure overview slide deck I have been using recently, as it has been a couple of years since I posted the earlier Azure overview decks (on my Slideshare account at https://www.slideshare.net/davidcchou/presentations) which many people have viewed.

Microsoft Azure from David Chou

Since its initial launch in 2008, Azure now has a pretty impressive list of services, providing a comprehensive coverage of platform capabilities that organizations can use to build applications in the cloud.

I recall back in 2011 we were still pondering if Active Directory and BizTalk should be available as part of the services portfolio in Azure, and how they should be like (e.g., hosted versions of the server software, or something more optimized for the cloud, etc.). And now we have them in Azure, and directionally they are indeed cloud-optimized (e.g., managed services with built-in high availability, multi-tenancy; not simply software to run on Virtual Machines in individual subscriptions). This shows that directionally, Azure should be thought of as a cloud-based application platform; more than just another place to run software on servers.