title: Cloud vs Server for Application Development
body: <p>What are the benefits of using a Cloud Service over a normal server setup?  It's a given that i may benefit from a distributed server setup (The cloud) and maybe cost.  But am i really missing out on any capabilities by not using a cloud service?  If anything cloud computing is rather limited.  </p>
  
  <p>For example the Azure service not all of the .Net Framework assemblies are available to the developer.</p>
  
  <p>There has been a lot of hype with Push and data synchronization technologies recently, and they seem to be sold as something that can only be done with cloud services.  There's nothing baked into Cloud Services that enables Push or Syncing right?  The developer still needs to write the apps and it host it on the Cloud.  If so, then why not use a normal server setup?</p>
  
  <p>Forgive me if i am talking total nonsense, but i am trying read beyond the marketing hypea dn try to understand the real limitations/benefits of using a Cloud and what business benefits it can bring.</p>