If I am supposed to store Terra Bytes of data, in Management Portal easy delete option is very dangerous. Along with no way to retrieve deleted data. Even accidentally it does happen, today I created a test blob storage to test media services and then decided to delete it. I noticed, I could easily have selected something else and deleted it.

1. Two Factor Delete Operation, send a code to email and ask user to enter the code to delete.
2. Perform delete after actual 24 hours.
2. Use some sort of warning indication in email that delete request is under processing.

I am currently hosting with dedicated servers and on request of actual deletion of server, I receive warnings and I get enough time period to revert back.

Or ask Users to first delete blobs under containers and then containers and then delete storage.

The new Azure Bing API is being rushed into production, with features dropped, changed and ignored --- as if there was no previous api that developers invested time and money building upon.

This mad rush is accompanied by minimal documentation --- and wholesale ignoring of URGENTLY needed features that have been provided in the old api --- as if they never existed and no one knows about them. It is an absurd situation and is the cause of panic among those who have developed serious project based upon the old api.

Two features of the present Bing 2.0 Api that MUST URGENTLY be preserved:

1. The old Bing API 2.0 has a "search suggestions" feature, accessed using a separate url:

"http://api.bing.net/qson.aspx";

This provides autocompletion search suggestions of the type that are provided in the search box on Bing (and Google) - as a dropdown list.

This is an URGENTLY NEEDED feature to include in the new Azure Bing Search API.

The minimal migration document filled with careless errors, I might add), doesn't even mention this service.

Please advise if it is available or make a serious effort to make it available in the new api. Meanwhile, if there is a delay, PLEASE LEAVE THE OLD qson.aspx API FUNCTIONING, until a replacement is available.

I cannot stress how important this is. Serious search engines all provide this, and so does the present "old" Bing API.

Please respect our seriousness in choosing Microsoft for our development and continue providing the tools we need to produce a PROFESSIONAL APPLICATION.

2. Result Totals

For some flip reason, the totals were dropped from the results in the new API. This is VERY PROBLEMATIC. We URGENTLY NEED TOTALS!

a. It helps in performing normal pagination, rather than the bizarre suggestions I've heard offered by Microsoft personnel "to page forward till you get a 0 results page, then you know you've already PAST the last page!!!???" This is a bad joke, NOT a serious answer.

b. EVEN MORE IMPORTANTLY: all serious search engines provide results of the form ---
"Showing 1-20 of 345,000 results"

This way a user knows if he should simply page through a total of a few pages, OR refine his search to narrow down the results.

Not showing results is NOT PROFESSIONAL and makes our developer applications seem totally NON PROFESSIONAL.

Having totals is MANDATORY. Please reinstate this feature asap.

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In summary, the new Azure Bing API has been hastily brought out, and has so many dropped features and changes, and little/error-filled documentation. It is a major hassle and worry for those of us who have already developed serious applications.

Features cannot be dropped and wholesale changes be made as if this is a new api project. IT IS NOT.

I urgently request that these features be preserved/provided as soon as possible. We are under a very short and pressing desdline, as you know --- and these 2 features are HOLDING US UP, along with many other developers we know.

Thanks and regards,

Barry Frand
Compserv

Cloud Drive is very helpful for those who are using standard NTFS APIs like us.

Actually we are working on application which will run both on cloud and on local machine. We need to store and use our large amount of data which will be used by our application to azure storage. and both local and cloud running application have to save and retrieve data from one location. Initially we are concentrated on blobs but looking at cloud drive we want to shift on to it.

In terms of Cloud Drive and our application running in cloud its awesome.
But But the application running in local environment have no access to cloud drive.

Cloud Drive functionality should be available Locally in future