Microsoft is finally allowing users to run Windows 7 and 8 in the cloud, but for development and test purposes only.



From All About Microsoft:

But this week, Microsoft changed its tune -- though only for limited use cases. In a largely under-the-radar announcement at its TechEd conference in Houston, Microsoft announced that it is making available in the Azure VM Gallery Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 Enterprise images.

The new Windows client images are for MSDN subscribers only. And they are meant to be used exclusively for application development and testing purposes, officials stressed. Microsoft already makes available Visual Studio 2013 images for use in Azure VMs, but developers could, if they so desired, also opt to add Visual Studio 2013 to the new Windows 7/Windows 8.1 images, officials said.

  Windows 7 and 8.1 now usable in Azure virtual machines, but for developers only