It hasn’t been a secret that signing up for a Windows Azure account was not a trivial task. It involved more than 12 steps, several web sites, and the collection of three dusty relics. 
With the focus on simplification, the sign up process has been boiled down to three steps.
1. Login with Live ID
2. Confirm you are a human with a text/sms message to your phone.
3. Provide billing/credit card details.
Your account will be created with a spending cap if you choose to use the 3 month free trial, or your MSDN account benefits. These spending caps will turn off your services if you reach the ‘free’ level of you resource allocation. This means that your credit card will only be charged if you choose to remove the spending caps. Now you are play with the cloud, for free, without any risk or fear of being charged!
It is so easy to create an account now that you can do it in a quick few moments. I made a small snack sized video to show you how quickly it is. Forgive the ugly ‘blurring’ of the credit card data. It may be the giving season, but I am not that giving.
The new and simpler way to create a Windows Azure account.