Understanding the scope of the cloud is an overwhelming task, even for a seasoned developer. This course takes a step back to look at the big picture of Microsoft Azure. This perspective can help you understand the many Azure offerings, including storage, hosting, deployment, and machine learning, and assess which best fit your organization's cloud strategy. Those just entering the cloud, including business managers, will find the course to be a valuable resource they can return to again and again. Chapter one kicks off with a true big-picture view, comparing the three cornerstones of the cloud: software as a service, infrastructure as a service, and platform as a service. Instructor Walt Ritscher then covers Azure subscription options and costs and dives deeper into specific Azure services. He covers web hosting, cloud storage, Azure security, infrastructure, DevOps tools, and media encoding, as well as event and notification services. Review the services that interest you or zoom out for a more complete picture of this powerful cloud-computing platform.