Today a Community Technology Preview (CTP) of the Windows Azure Starter Kit for Java became available on the Codeplex portal. This is one of steps Microsoft is taking towards making Windows Azure platform as interoperable and open as possible.
The Windows Azure Starter Kit for Java is an open source project released under the Apache 2.0 license, and it is available for download at: http://wastarterkit4java.codeplex.com/. It enables Java developers to simply configure, package and deploy their web applications to Windows Azure and it was designed to work as a simple command line build tool or in the Eclipse integrated development environment (IDE). It uses Apache Ant as part of the build process, and includes an Ant extension that’s capable of understanding Window Azure configuration options.
The primary behind this CTP release is to get more feedback from the Java developers and to make Java a first-class citizen on top of Windows Azure. In case you use Java, do try this out and provide feedback on the things you would like to have improved!