The world is becoming increasingly mobile as the marketplace continues to shift toward tablets and smart phones.  These mobile platforms are creating dramatic changes for software developers as the push for connectivity increases. One of the changes influencing this paradigm shift is Cloud technology.

Software like Microsoft Azure encourages collaboration between team members and customers, because it connects developers to virtual servers worldwide.  This allows teams of developers to work on projects from any location with web access.  It also enables team members to track tasks and the progress of a project.  Through Cloud integration, the team can view individual processes and communicate deadlines clearly and simply among team members.  With Microsoft Cloud specifically, Microsoft guarantees that your data won’t be lost and that you will always have access to your projects.

Cloud has also eliminated the need for traditional hardware among your team through the use of virtual platforms.  Automated platforms and tools (Microsoft or otherwise) allow developers to test mobile applications (and other programs) as they create them.  Platforms like Microsoft.net are based on virtual machine architecture and are designed to support programming language independent of a specific operating system or hardware.  Software developed on these platforms can run on any system that contains the implementation of the platform’s framework.  Likewise for web sites, ASP.net is a free web framework for building web sites and web applications using HTML, CSS and JavaScript.  These platforms allow for simplified development, testing and deployment.

Mobile development will be further advanced through the release of Windows 8.

Specifically designed for a mobile purpose, Windows 8 will deliver connectivity among mobile platforms, enabling all devices to act as one personal computer.  Applications will vary, but this is the groundwork that will eliminate differences between the platforms, streamlining connectivity and communications on projects from fixed locations to mobile locations.  This means all the Microsoft tools, including Cloud, will be essential for companies looking to develop software for any Windows 8 device.

All of these tools will make the term “offshoring” irrelevant, because it eliminates the need for hardware.  With hardware out of the picture, location is no longer a factor for developers.  Cloud technology and virtual platforms will act to unite all project members as a single team, regardless of where they are located.