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> They aren’t cheap, but they listen to us when we need something Yet amazingly their interfaces and quality is incredibly horrible. Azure like most other thin

> They aren’t cheap, but they listen to us when we need something Yet amazingly their interfaces and quality is incredibly horrible. Azure like most other things Microsoft makes feels like a half baked and over fitted platform with serious quality issues.

GordonS 7y ago
I completely disagree - I find the Azure interface, delightful to work with. And best of all, it's consistent, which can't be said for AWS' UI, which mostly looks very dated and differs from service to service. Years ago the Azure UI was a bit slow (but still beautiful to look at), but those issues were solved long ago.
- arethuza 7y ago
  The change over from the "old" Azure portal to the new one was a bit painful at the time - but that was a while ago now and the current one is, I think, pretty good .
- eropple 7y ago
  Having functionality splattered all through the god-awful, inexplicably horizontally-scrolling interface is not my idea of “delightful”. Parts of it are URL-stateful, other parts aren’t, and there’s no rhyme or reason for the difference. AWS might look “dated”, but I can’t imagine the mindset that cares about that. If a console is how you’re evaluating your cloud provider you are several steps behind where you need to be. And, great news: in addition to having a really dire console, Azure’s APIs are just no good, particularly if you have to step into the shitshow that is Azure AD (and paying even more for Microsoft Graph, which should just be included) or IAM, and they don’t step to either AWS or GCP to a degree that I just won’t work for an Azure company again. Trying to get anything done in those environments makes me feel stupid and personally bad for having the temerity to try, between inscrutable errors where the Microsoft support is barely English-literate even when you’re paying for it and the aforementioned API barf, and that’s a bad way to live one’s life.
  - GordonS 7y ago
    > Having functionality splattered all through I haven't found functionality to be "splattered" at all. In general, you have a menu on the left for top-level functions, and a button-bar at the top for other things - the layout feels really consistent to me, with the only exception I've noticed being Function Apps. > inexplicably horizontally-scrolling At least from a culture with left-right written language, it makes perfect sense to me. Alternatives would be several layers of dialog boxes, or expanding vertically, but I like the Azure portal's way > AWS might look “dated”, but I can’t imagine the mindset that cares about that It just feels ugly to work with it. But the bigger issue is the inconsistency - some parts have small variations, others are completely different; it feels very fragmented. > If a console is how you’re evaluating your cloud provider you are several steps behind where you need to be Again I'm afraid I disagree. You can work with Azure from a console using cross-platform Powershell Core, or the cross-platform Azure CLI (my preference). There are a host of REST APIs too. I've worked with numerous different Azure services, and I really haven't had any issues here. > Microsoft support is barely English-literate even when you’re paying for it On the (free) Microsoft forums, yes, they are complete and utter shit, and I don't know why Microsoft even still hosts them. But I've found the paid-for support at Azure to be very good, and there certainly haven't been any English language issues.
    - TruffleMuffin 7y ago
      I have had to personally re-document setting up a basic Azure AD connection 4 times in a 18 month period. Each time I go back to it, the UI has changed and key pieces of functionality are just 'elsewhere'. The EC2 console is old and outdated, its been the same since I started with it like 7 years ago. They are rolling out a new dashboard right now, a complete overhaul. The difference - I don't have to re-document the EC2 Console for internal training. The AWS Cli is a simple tool that just keeps working and its documentation is pretty much all you need to look at. The Powershell interface with AzureAD was absolutely opaque, no documentation, took hours to figure out how to configure claims and when I did, it didn't even work due to hidden limitations that the paid for support could not explain. I think that your experiences have been quite different to others, certainly mine.
- oauea 7y ago
  If your screen isn't big enough the Azure portal scrolls in 4(!) directions, and even worse, it uses horizontal scrolling for navigating between related objects! It's completely impossible to use if your screen isn't huge and the window maximized.
- chayesfss 7y ago
  I'm glad someone finds the interface usable and consistent
moksly 7y ago
I don’t really like the admin interfaces or CLIs of either AWS or Azure. I’ve had an easier time with Azure than AWS for my personal projects, but maybe that’s just from being used to the Microsoft way. I’m not sure why they are so much harder to use than the smaller services like heroku or digital ocean. You’d think the big guys would have the best and easiest services, but they sure don’t.
- 3pt14159 7y ago
  DigitalOcean has some of the best APIs, documentation, and support I've ever encountered. I wish more companies were like them.

GordonS 7y ago

I completely disagree - I find the Azure interface, delightful to work with. And best of all, it's consistent, which can't be said for AWS' UI, which mostly looks very dated and differs from service to service. Years ago the Azure UI was a bit slow (but still beautiful to look at), but those issues were solved long ago.

arethuza 7y ago
The change over from the "old" Azure portal to the new one was a bit painful at the time - but that was a while ago now and the current one is, I think, pretty good .
eropple 7y ago
Having functionality splattered all through the god-awful, inexplicably horizontally-scrolling interface is not my idea of “delightful”. Parts of it are URL-stateful, other parts aren’t, and there’s no rhyme or reason for the difference. AWS might look “dated”, but I can’t imagine the mindset that cares about that. If a console is how you’re evaluating your cloud provider you are several steps behind where you need to be. And, great news: in addition to having a really dire console, Azure’s APIs are just no good, particularly if you have to step into the shitshow that is Azure AD (and paying even more for Microsoft Graph, which should just be included) or IAM, and they don’t step to either AWS or GCP to a degree that I just won’t work for an Azure company again. Trying to get anything done in those environments makes me feel stupid and personally bad for having the temerity to try, between inscrutable errors where the Microsoft support is barely English-literate even when you’re paying for it and the aforementioned API barf, and that’s a bad way to live one’s life.
- GordonS 7y ago
  > Having functionality splattered all through I haven't found functionality to be "splattered" at all. In general, you have a menu on the left for top-level functions, and a button-bar at the top for other things - the layout feels really consistent to me, with the only exception I've noticed being Function Apps. > inexplicably horizontally-scrolling At least from a culture with left-right written language, it makes perfect sense to me. Alternatives would be several layers of dialog boxes, or expanding vertically, but I like the Azure portal's way > AWS might look “dated”, but I can’t imagine the mindset that cares about that It just feels ugly to work with it. But the bigger issue is the inconsistency - some parts have small variations, others are completely different; it feels very fragmented. > If a console is how you’re evaluating your cloud provider you are several steps behind where you need to be Again I'm afraid I disagree. You can work with Azure from a console using cross-platform Powershell Core, or the cross-platform Azure CLI (my preference). There are a host of REST APIs too. I've worked with numerous different Azure services, and I really haven't had any issues here. > Microsoft support is barely English-literate even when you’re paying for it On the (free) Microsoft forums, yes, they are complete and utter shit, and I don't know why Microsoft even still hosts them. But I've found the paid-for support at Azure to be very good, and there certainly haven't been any English language issues.
  - TruffleMuffin 7y ago
    I have had to personally re-document setting up a basic Azure AD connection 4 times in a 18 month period. Each time I go back to it, the UI has changed and key pieces of functionality are just 'elsewhere'. The EC2 console is old and outdated, its been the same since I started with it like 7 years ago. They are rolling out a new dashboard right now, a complete overhaul. The difference - I don't have to re-document the EC2 Console for internal training. The AWS Cli is a simple tool that just keeps working and its documentation is pretty much all you need to look at. The Powershell interface with AzureAD was absolutely opaque, no documentation, took hours to figure out how to configure claims and when I did, it didn't even work due to hidden limitations that the paid for support could not explain. I think that your experiences have been quite different to others, certainly mine.
oauea 7y ago
If your screen isn't big enough the Azure portal scrolls in 4(!) directions, and even worse, it uses horizontal scrolling for navigating between related objects! It's completely impossible to use if your screen isn't huge and the window maximized.
chayesfss 7y ago
I'm glad someone finds the interface usable and consistent

moksly 7y ago

I don’t really like the admin interfaces or CLIs of either AWS or Azure. I’ve had an easier time with Azure than AWS for my personal projects, but maybe that’s just from being used to the Microsoft way. I’m not sure why they are so much harder to use than the smaller services like heroku or digital ocean. You’d think the big guys would have the best and easiest services, but they sure don’t.

3pt14159 7y ago
DigitalOcean has some of the best APIs, documentation, and support I've ever encountered. I wish more companies were like them.