We Need a Capped Plan for MSDN Azure Benefits
Like many developers, I’d like to play more with Windows Azure. Microsoft recently improved the MSDN Azure benefits – extending them to MSDN Professional subscribers.
The trouble is, the onus is on the subscriber to avoid hefty charges caused by exceeding the ‘free’ storage, compute hours, and bandwidth. Here’s the wording:
“For all usage that exceeds the free allocation above, customers will be charged at standard rates. To avoid charges customers should closely monitor their usage.”
For my part, I don’t intend to hand my credit card over to Microsoft for unpredictable, open-ended charges. Nor do I want to watch a meter day and night.
Instead, there should be a Capped Plan option to the MSDN Azure benefit with no credit card required. In this option, Microsoft simply pulls the Azure plug if my application somehow uses up its free allocation.
Developers need reassurance that learning, experimenting, or doing something stupid on Azure won’t run up a bill that gets their credit card over-extended and even revoked.
Ken