![](https://csdnimg.cn/release/download_crawler_static/7640005/bg12.jpg)
xviii
I want to start by thanking the following subject matter experts and contributors to this guide:
Dominic Betts, Scott Densmore, Ryan Dunn, Steve Marx, and Matias Woloski. Dominic has the un-
usual skill of knowing a subject in great detail and of finding a way to explain it to the rest of us that is
precise, complete, and yet simple to understand. Scott brought us a wealth of knowledge about how
to build scalable Windows Azure applications, which is what he did before he joined my team. He also
brings years of experience about how to build frameworks and tools for developers. I’ve had the privi-
lege of working with Ryan in previous projects, and I’ve always benefited from his acuity, insights, and
experience. As a Windows Azure evangelist, he’s been able to show us what customers with very real
requirements need. Steve is a technical strategist for Windows Azure. He’s been instrumental in shap-
ing this guide. We rely on him to show us not just what the platform can do today but how it will
evolve. This is important because we want to provide guidance today that is aligned with longer-term
goals. Last but not least, Matias is a veteran of many projects with me. He’s been involved with
Windows Azure since the very first day, and his efforts have been invaluable in creating this guide.
As it happens with all our written content, we have sample code for most of the chapters. They
demonstrate what we talk about in the guide. Many thanks to the project’s development and test
teams for providing a good balance of technically sound, focused and simple-to-understand code:
Masashi Narumoto (Microsoft Corporation), Scott Densmore (Microsoft Corporation), Federico
Boerr (Southworks), Adrián Menegatti (Southworks), Hanz Zhang (Microsoft Corporation), Ravindra
Mahendravarman (Infosys Ltd.), Rathi Velusamy (Infosys Ltd.).
Our guides must not only be technically accurate but also entertaining and interesting to read. This is
no simple task, and I want to thank Dominic Betts, RoAnn Corbisier (Microsoft Corporation), Alex
Homer (Microsoft Corporation), and Tina Burden from the writing and editing team for excelling at this.
The visual design concept used for this guide was originally developed by Roberta Leibovitz and Colin
Campbell (Modeled Computation LLC) for A Guide to Claims-Based Identity and Access Control.
Based on the excellent responses we received, we decided to reuse it for this book. The book design
was created by John Hubbard (eson). The cartoon faces were drawn by the award-winning Seattle-
based cartoonist Ellen Forney. The technical illustrations were adapted from my Tablet PC mockups
by Chris Burns.
All of our guides are reviewed, commented upon, scrutinized, and criticized by a large number of
customers, partners, and colleagues. We also received feedback from the larger community through
our CodePlex website. The Windows Azure platform is broad and spans many disciplines. We were
very fortunate to have the intellectual power of a very diverse and skillful group of readers available
to us.
I also want to thank all of these people who volunteered their time and expertise on our early content
and drafts. Among those, we want to highlight the exceptional contributions of Jorge Rowies (South-
works), Marcos Castany (Southworks), Federico Boerr (Southworks), Corey Sanders (Microsoft
Corporation), Nir Mashkowski (Microsoft Corporation), Ganesh Srinivasan (Microsoft Corporation),
Jane Sinyagina (Microsoft Corporation), Rick Byham (Microsoft Corporation), Boris Scholl (Microsoft
Corporation), and Paul Yuknewicz (Microsoft Corporation).
I hope you find this guide useful!
Eugenio Pace
Senior Program Manager – patterns & practices
Microsoft Corporation