I can't speak for others but in my case, consuming services of the Windows Azure platform takes care of licensing (there's not additional license costs). There

I can't speak for others but in my case, consuming services of the Windows Azure platform takes care of licensing (there's not additional license costs). There is a degree of lock-in but there are also many benefits. As I said, it's my personal opinion and experience, based on the kind of applications I usually develop and the kind of market I work for (enterprise).