Google wants Windows server applications to run on its cloud

Microsoft License Mobility is now available for Google Cloud Platform, Google said Monday in a blog post. This allows customers using SQL Server, SharePoint and Exchange on-site to migrate those applications to Google's cloud without paying Microsoft additional licensing fees. This feature also applies to customers who hold a perpetual license, Google said. Using Microsoft products on Google's cloud is subject to additional conditions, so users should review Google Cloud Compute's service terms, the company said.

Google also announced that Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter Edition is available to all Google Cloud Platform customers in beta on Google Compute Engine. Google explained this feature by acknowledging that some customers using Windows also want a way to run applications in the cloud.

"We know our customers run some of their key workloads on Windows and want rapid deployment, high performance and the ability to stretch their datacenters to the cloud," wrote product manager Martin Buhr in the blog.

Still, Google wasn't ready to promote Microsoft's competing Azure cloud service over its own offerings. Google said that its cloud platform " is the best place to run your Windows workload" since it supports Local SSD and offers different ways to link a customer's data center to the cloud.

Google wrote that its working on offering Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2 in its cloud, but didn't offer a date for the feature.

Lastly, the popular Chrome RDP app from Fusion Labs for Google Cloud Compute is free for Windows users. Customers using the Chrome Web browser to access the Google Compute Engine can create remote desktop sessions to Windows instances without using additional software. Using this feature is straightforward and entails customers just clicking on the RDP button in the Google Developer Console, Google said. The developer's console handles storing and managing passwords for each Windows instance, Google said.

Fred O'Connor writes about IT careers and health IT for The IDG News Service. Follow Fred on Twitter at @fredjoconnor. Fred's e-mail address is fred_o'connor@idg.com