From a Rather Good Idea to Proper Scale Building Cloud Spires Without the Dreadful Bill
Creating digital products these days is rather like assembling flat-pack furniture from that well-known Swedish retailer, but having rather mislaid the instructions. It presents a splendid opportunity to spend twice what one had initially intended. Fortunately, there are ways to navigate this with at least a modicum of grace, if not outright thrift.
Shall we take a gentle stroll through the Microsoft ecosystem? We shall learn to build solutions without causing the accounts department to faint, and we shall be introduced to a few charming AI assistants who seem to know a great deal more about our work than we do ourselves.
Part the First. The Azure Pricing Calculator, or The Fine Art of Politely Reckoning One’s Future Expenditure
To venture into cloud computing without first considering the budget is terribly reckless. Rather like setting off for a hike in the Scottish Highlands in one’s best brogues. Thankfully, Microsoft, in its infinite wisdom, has provided us with a most civilised solution—the Azure Pricing Calculator.
What is it, then? Imagine the most polite and fastidious accounting tool imaginable. It allows one to, with utter composure, virtually spend hundreds of thousands before one has parted with a single penny in reality. Select your services, your regions, your specifications—and observe as the numbers on the screen climb, ever so politely, yet with grim determination.
A few wry suggestions for its use
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Do begin modestly. Ordering the most powerful server for a test application is a classic manoeuvre, is it not? Indulge yourself in the Calculator, then, with a sigh, return to a more sensible configuration. Do remember, one can always scale up later. As my dear grandmother used to say, “more haste, less speed.”
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Put the services through a proper interview. Pit a virtual machine against a serverless function and have them compete for your attention and budget. You may be surprised how often the expensive, complicated server loses to a more modest, efficient alternative. Much like life, really.
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Saviour the moment of clarity. When you finally see what is truly consuming your budget—it’s almost always the data or someone’s dreadful configuration—you will feel rather like Sherlock Holmes having cracked the case. Elementary, my dear Watson.
In summary, the Calculator is the finest way to have a quiet crisis about future invoices from the comfort of one’s own desk.
Part the Second. GitHub Copilot, or Engaging a Gentleman Programmer for the Price of a Cuppa
Once the budget is settled and one’s spirit is calm, the real fun begins—the writing of code. And here, allow me to introduce your new pair programmer—GitHub Copilot.
What is it? It is rather like having a terribly clever companion perched on one’s shoulder, who occasionally, with an air of mild condescension, suggests how one might relieve one’s code of excessive verbosity. You write a comment in the faint hope someone might read it someday, and it—voilà—generates a complete function. A trifle uncanny, but dreadfully useful.
Why it’s become rather indispensable
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It remembers what you have forgotten. Standard queries, design patterns, syntax—it reproduces them all with an elegant ease, saving you from rooting about in dusty documentation.
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It is your patient tutor. Ask it how to accomplish something in an unfamiliar language, and it will kindly furnish an example. Rather like an old Oxford don, but without the distracting habit of mumbling into his waistcoat.
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It allows you to maintain the illusion of profound thought. While the Copilot deals with the mundane, you can gaze out the window with a thoughtful expression, contemplating the grand architecture. Or the weather. No one will be any the wiser.
It shan’t replace your own brilliant logic, but it will take on the tedious work, as any good assistant should.
Part the Third. Microsoft 365 Copilot, or The AI Personal Secretary One Never Actually Employed
And then there is the small matter of project management, is there not? The endless documents, spreadsheets, meetings, and correspondence. This is where Microsoft 365 Copilot makes its entrance—the one who reads your emails so that you might not have to.
What does it do? This sophisticated artificial intelligence has installed itself into your Word, Excel, and Teams with the singular aim of creating the impression that you have everything under perfect control.
Examples of its refined assistance
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In Word You can ask it, “Be a good fellow and summarise this twenty-page report into three paragraphs, would you?” And it shall. Without a single word of complaint.
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In Excel Instead of spending hours hunting for the right formula, one can simply write, “My dear fellow, would you be so kind as to show me which quarter saw the most extravagant spending, and do highlight it in a suitably alarming crimson?” It will not only calculate it but present it with a visual grace worthy of the Tate.
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In Outlook and Teams It will provide a concise summary of an hour-long meeting, from which you will glean that, thankfully, nothing of consequence was decided, and one may now proceed to tea with a clear conscience.
In Lieu of a Conclusion Harmony, Rather Like the Royal Philharmonic
It all comes together rather like a well-conducted orchestra.
The Azure Pricing Calculator is our scrupulous treasurer, who politely, yet firmly, raises an eyebrow at every ill-considered spending impulse.
GitHub Copilot is the brilliant first violinist, who plays one’s thoughts, sometimes even a note or two ahead.
Microsoft 365 Copilot is the entire remainder of the orchestra, providing the accompaniment without missing a beat.
Together, they create a symphony of efficiency, allowing you, the conductor, to avoid panicking about the minutiae and simply enjoy the music of innovation. And, of course, to always find time for a proper afternoon tea.