We knew this was coming, but now it is official. You will be able to run Microsoft Windows within the Amazon EC2 infrastructure. The biggest hurdle has always been the license issue - who gives Steve/Bill their pound of flesh for running the instance.

That particular question however has not yet been answered. Chances are though, Amazon will levy a small charge on top of the usage charges. This is by and far the easiest option for every one involved and ensures no one is using the Amazon hardware illegally.

The reason I come to this conclusion is that they are stating that existing EC2 client tools will be able to throw up a new running instance of a Windows image. Those tools have no provision for passing in, easily, an existing Microsoft license key.

Once it is up and running you will be able to VNC into it, or rdesktop and start playing around as if you were there. Now you can literally run your desktop in the "clouds"!

What little details there are available, can be found here.