Microsoft in the News
On March 12, Microsoft announced that the Azure Cosmos DB Data Explorer is now available to
everyone via the Azure portal. The Data Explorer brings together under a single service the
functionality previously found in Document Explorer, Query Explorer, and Script Explorer.
The consolidation of these functions means that each of those individual services will be
discontinued in the Azure portal.
Azure Blockchain As A Service
If you have been following along in this Blockchain series, and taking a peek at some of the
links, it becomes obvious that this is an enormous ecosystem that would require some serious
dedication to master. I have only been able to give you a taste of what is out there in the hope
that you now better understand the virtual tsunami that is going to disrupt our world. As it
stands, most of us toiling away in tech have heard of Blockchain and cryptocurrencies, but have
not had the time to actually understand what they are and how they work. I hope that I have
given you sufficient overview so that you feel comfortable talking about Blockchain, and
perhaps tweaked your curiosity enough that you will spend some time playing with Microsoft’s
BaaS on Azure.
If you do decide that further exploration and tinkering in this ecosystem is warranted, Microsoft
Azure is ready to help. Like everything else in Azure, once you have your Azure Subscription,
there are countless resources for you to access and a sandbox for you to play and explore the
possibilities in.
A walk through for getting started in Azure can be found here:
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/uk_faculty_connection/2016/08/01/getting-started- with-
blockchain-as- a-service- using-microsoft- azure-dev- test-labs/
As always, there are plenty of templates to help you on your journey.
Ethereum.org also provides tutorials to get you started. Here is one to help you create your
very own digital currency: https://www.ethereum.org/token
Finally, GitHub.com is another source for Blockchain projects on Azure.
