Welcome to the latest edition of our weekly roundup of the latest community-driven news, content and conversations about cloud computing and Windows Azure. Here are the highlights from this week.

Articles and Blog Posts

• Installing 3rd-Party Software on Windows Azure – What Are the Options? by @wely-live (posted May 9)
• Sending Text Messages from Your Windows Azure Service by @MichaelCollier (posted May 9)
• Interview Series: Four Questions with Dean Robertson by @rseroter (posted May 9)
• Add Authentication Options to Your Windows Azure Website by Zoiner Tejada (posted May 8)
• BlobShare:  Corporate Filesharing with Security and Control by @buckwoody (posted May 8)
• (Video) Privacy Central Protecting Your Data Using Ruby on Windows Azure by @brucedykle (posted May 8) 

Upcoming Events, and User Group Meetings

North America

• May 14: Central Ohio Computer User Group – Columbus, OH
• May 17:  Windows Azure Hands-on and Node.js – Reston, VA
• May 17: Windows Azure Kick Start – Waukesha, WI
• May 30: Cloud Camp – Reston, VA
• May 30:  Windows Azure Meetup  – Vancouver, Canada
• June 11-14: Microsoft TechEd North America 2012 – Orlando, FL

Europe

• May 15-16:CloudConf 2012 – Moscow, Russia
• May 16: Big Data using Hadoop on Windows Azure – Antwerp, Belgium
• May 23-24: DevCon 12 – Moscow, Russia
• June 26-29: Microsoft TechEd Europe – Amsterdam, Netherlands

Other

• May 21-25: Windows Azure UK Bootcamps – Online
• May 22:  Architectural Patterns for the Cloud  – Online
• May 22-24: Integration Master Class with Richard Seroter – Australia (3 cities)

Recent Windows Azure Forums Discussion Threads

• How do I publish web application to azure using “Publish -> “Web Deploy”? (getting error: Web Deployment task failed) – 591 views, 8 replies
• Access Page in VM Image from IE, Not Page from VM Role – 590 views, 6 replies
• Initial Data Sync Failing – 724 views, 9 replies

Send us articles that you’d like us to highlight, or content of your own that you’d like to share. And let us know about any local events, groups or activities that you think we should tell the rest of the Windows Azure community about. You can use the comments section below, or talk to us on Twitter @WindowsAzure. 

Have a great weekend!

Himanshu