Windows Azure is a virtual machine service provided by Microsoft, similar to AWS. Due to China's regulations prohibiting cloud computing services from sharing data with foreign countries, Azure operates in China through a dedicated company called 21Vianet, with data centers currently in East China and North China. Currently, Azure doesn't appear to have a time-limited trial. After checking online, it seems there are no time restrictions. The trial server limits each user to a maximum of 3000 CPU hours per month (1500 hours for high-memory servers), meaning a 4-core server can run continuously for a full month without shutdown. I applied for an activation code long ago and recently received it unexpectedly in my email....