Yes, here is the evidence http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/pricing/details/virtual-machines/
Windows A4 (8 core) machine - $0.72 / hr
Linux A4 (8 core) machine - $0.48 / hr
So $200 credit will let you mine 277 hours on 8 core Windows machine and 416 hours on 8 core Linux machine. This is the same hardware, but you will mine 50% longer on Linux, so you'll get 50% more coins.
Unfortunately this is Linux. So yes, you will have to use command line. This is for advanced miners only.