4 ms·

First Look – AWS WorkSpaces

35 points by aluciani 13y ago

michaelt 13y ago
Does anyone know why these are priced by the month, when so many other services (EC2, S3, RDS...) have much more granular billing? I don't use Windows or Office enough to need a full copy, but if I could get access for $0.25 an hour on demand that would be pretty useful.
- aluciani 13y ago
  Yeah, I agree with you. I am guessing that over time the pricing model will change.
- csears 13y ago
  The normal Microsoft service provider license agreement (SPLA) forces you to buy subscriber access licenses (SALs) on a monthly basis. Amazon may have a custom deal with MS for hourly Windows pricing on EC2 that wasn't extended to Office. It also may have been a marketing move, since enterprise IT folks actually prefer the predictability of simple monthly pricing over utility-style hourly rates.
benjaminoakes 13y ago
I keep wondering if they'll try a Linux-based desktop for certain use cases. It could be offered for a cheaper price, perhaps. Hard to say if it would happen, but it would fit in with Amazon's previous AWS offerings. Definitely good to start with Windows, however.
- noname123 13y ago
  I have an AWS instance with Ubuntu Desktop installed and xrdesktop. Works pretty good as my dev machine and running Eclipse and everything.
- karmajunkie 13y ago
  I mean, you can pretty much already do that with AWS, and with hourly pricing to boot. It might be nice to have something configured for easy integration into an ldap authentication mechanism, but I imagine you could get a base image built for a company fairly easily.
gburt 13y ago
I tried to do this with EC2 once and it proves to be far too slow to use over RDP. How are they handling that? Does anyone know? The OP called it "pretty snappy" which I assume referred to response time.
- Spooky23 13y ago
  PCoIP performs better than RDP over the WAN.
  - aluciani 13y ago
    Looks like Amazon WorkSpaces incorporates PCoIP technology from Teradici. http://aws.amazon.com/workspaces/details/ http://aws.amazon.com/workspaces/details/
BatFastard 13y ago
If I could run this on a linux desktop, it would be a no brainer. But if I have to buy and configure a windows or mac license in addition, its less compelling as a desktop replacement. Plus I would really like to see some 4 or 8 core machines with 16 Gb ram. That said I have been wanting this for 20 years...
BorisMelnik 13y ago
anyone else having issues with IP? Forget which thread it was, but someone stated that their IP showed up as X in once instance (What is MY Ip I believe) and Y in another.
DonGateley 13y ago
What is the minimum commitment? Can I sign up for the $35/mo service to test drive and then cancel before the end of the first month. A limited time trial configuration would be cool.
- aluciani 13y ago
  I'm not sure about a minimum commitment, but I plan on using for a month. I agree, it would be cool to have a trial/test drive.
nodesocket 13y ago
I'd love to be able to create OS X WorkSpaces as well.
- aluciani 13y ago
  It will be great to see them expand the offering to other operating systems.
- cones688 13y ago
  It's against Apples ToS to allow virtualization of OSX, though would love to seem them do with with Fedora or something. ChromeOS but with more power!
chrismorgan 13y ago
I confess I'm a little puzzled by all this; why would someone use this? You pretty much need to have such a computer already to use it, so what does it get you?
- jyap 13y ago
  I can think of quite a few reasons off the top of my head. Working from home - Perhaps you or your employees home machine is a Mac. An alternative is poking a hole in your office internal network to RDP to your PC. Conserving office energy - Have workers shut off their office PCs at night. Upgrade path - Perhaps your company has older PCs running XP. This is one option to an upgrade path to Windows 7 and future versions of Windows. Easy deployment - Perhaps you work in an environment with lots of employee growth. Get them up and running fast. Thin terminals - Have a less powerful, bare bones machine for access to your Remote Desktop. Imagine employees running off of devices like a raspberry pi. Terminal stations - Work from different desks in a larger complex. Licensing - This can be a cheaper or preferably month to month option for people wanting to run Office but not wanting to pay the full up front cost. Testing - Perhaps your office has Mac desktops and you need a Windows PC your company can share. That should get you started :)
- aluciani 13y ago
  Great points - jyap I would also add that thin clients and schools/college/university would be a great use case.

35 points by aluciani 13y ago

Does anyone know why these are priced by the month, when so many other services (EC2, S3, RDS...) have much more granular billing? I don't use Windows or Office enough to need a full copy, but if I could get access for $0.25 an hour on demand that would be pretty useful.

aluciani 13y ago
Yeah, I agree with you. I am guessing that over time the pricing model will change.
csears 13y ago
The normal Microsoft service provider license agreement (SPLA) forces you to buy subscriber access licenses (SALs) on a monthly basis. Amazon may have a custom deal with MS for hourly Windows pricing on EC2 that wasn't extended to Office. It also may have been a marketing move, since enterprise IT folks actually prefer the predictability of simple monthly pricing over utility-style hourly rates.

benjaminoakes 13y ago

I keep wondering if they'll try a Linux-based desktop for certain use cases. It could be offered for a cheaper price, perhaps. Hard to say if it would happen, but it would fit in with Amazon's previous AWS offerings. Definitely good to start with Windows, however.

noname123 13y ago
I have an AWS instance with Ubuntu Desktop installed and xrdesktop. Works pretty good as my dev machine and running Eclipse and everything.
karmajunkie 13y ago
I mean, you can pretty much already do that with AWS, and with hourly pricing to boot. It might be nice to have something configured for easy integration into an ldap authentication mechanism, but I imagine you could get a base image built for a company fairly easily.

gburt 13y ago

I tried to do this with EC2 once and it proves to be far too slow to use over RDP. How are they handling that? Does anyone know? The OP called it "pretty snappy" which I assume referred to response time.

Spooky23 13y ago
PCoIP performs better than RDP over the WAN.
- aluciani 13y ago
  Looks like Amazon WorkSpaces incorporates PCoIP technology from Teradici. http://aws.amazon.com/workspaces/details/ http://aws.amazon.com/workspaces/details/

BatFastard 13y ago

If I could run this on a linux desktop, it would be a no brainer. But if I have to buy and configure a windows or mac license in addition, its less compelling as a desktop replacement. Plus I would really like to see some 4 or 8 core machines with 16 Gb ram. That said I have been wanting this for 20 years...

BorisMelnik 13y ago

anyone else having issues with IP? Forget which thread it was, but someone stated that their IP showed up as X in once instance (What is MY Ip I believe) and Y in another.

DonGateley 13y ago

What is the minimum commitment? Can I sign up for the $35/mo service to test drive and then cancel before the end of the first month. A limited time trial configuration would be cool.

aluciani 13y ago
I'm not sure about a minimum commitment, but I plan on using for a month. I agree, it would be cool to have a trial/test drive.

nodesocket 13y ago

I'd love to be able to create OS X WorkSpaces as well.

aluciani 13y ago
It will be great to see them expand the offering to other operating systems.
cones688 13y ago
It's against Apples ToS to allow virtualization of OSX, though would love to seem them do with with Fedora or something. ChromeOS but with more power!

chrismorgan 13y ago

I confess I'm a little puzzled by all this; why would someone use this? You pretty much need to have such a computer already to use it, so what does it get you?

jyap 13y ago
I can think of quite a few reasons off the top of my head. Working from home - Perhaps you or your employees home machine is a Mac. An alternative is poking a hole in your office internal network to RDP to your PC. Conserving office energy - Have workers shut off their office PCs at night. Upgrade path - Perhaps your company has older PCs running XP. This is one option to an upgrade path to Windows 7 and future versions of Windows. Easy deployment - Perhaps you work in an environment with lots of employee growth. Get them up and running fast. Thin terminals - Have a less powerful, bare bones machine for access to your Remote Desktop. Imagine employees running off of devices like a raspberry pi. Terminal stations - Work from different desks in a larger complex. Licensing - This can be a cheaper or preferably month to month option for people wanting to run Office but not wanting to pay the full up front cost. Testing - Perhaps your office has Mac desktops and you need a Windows PC your company can share. That should get you started :)
aluciani 13y ago
Great points - jyap I would also add that thin clients and schools/college/university would be a great use case.