9 ms·

So, a thin client connecting to a virtual machine under some other company's control? No, thanks. The fact is, computers are plenty fast now, and can handle 90

So, a thin client connecting to a virtual machine under some other company's control? No, thanks. The fact is, computers are plenty fast now, and can handle 90% of peoples' usage patterns (browsing reddit, watching cat videos) with ease. The last thing I want is to have a remote desktop that lags out whenever there's a network hiccup.

benoliver999 12y ago
I'm having a weird issue where my modem keeps restarting. I'll fix it, but it's not bad enough to worry about. With paperspace, I get to break into a cold sweat because I can't access my shit!
DTE 12y ago
General computers are undoubtedly getting fast enough for a lot people. However, hosted computers (VDI, DaaS, etc) can do things that regular computers can't. I hate having to upgrade a physical computer (which isn't even an option on laptops usually) and with a VM that is no longer a concern. If you need more power (which admittedly not everyone does) its really is a click away. Transferring large files is also something that is still not easy to do with existing cloud storage options because the model is flipped (both parties have to upload and download over a single connection). By contrast, when using two hosted paperspace machines, you can transfer files nearly instantaneously. Effectively you trade one type of network transfer (the remote desktop image) for another (a big file you might be collaborating on with someone) and in some cases thats a huge win.
27182818284 12y ago
I very much like Browserstack for doing this as it allows for easy testing. I just don't like Browserstack's pricing as no shop I've worked in, and my own company, has ever needed it continuously. Rather, we need sorta pay-as-you-go minutes like cheap cell phones
nine_k 12y ago
This is not about the cost of hardware or software, it's about the price (and hassle) of maintaining them. Also, it's not about browsing reddit and accessing gmail; it's more about 'real' office applications and the like. In certain non-tech-savvy environments, such a thing has a very good chance of adoption. Also, it's a nice venue for renting heavyweight applications (like CAD, graphics, finance, etc) for a limited time, with a full guarantee against violating the policy by users.
- fudged71 12y ago
  Not just maintaining, but upgrading too. Imagine never needing to update your computer again from both software and hardware perspective.
  - spc476 12y ago
    And having to find out that some obscure feature you were using is now gone, and some other semi-obscure feature you were using is now in a different location and you have to rework your entire workflow yet again. It gets tiresome after twenty years.
weland 12y ago
But but but the web is the future! I see people complaining about the hassles of maintaining a computer. Seriously? It's been like... how many years since basically everyone introduced that "revert to when this was working" state? And even if it weren't for that, if maintaining a computer is so much of a hassle, how exactly is this supposed to be accessed? With browsers running on the holodeck? "From a consumer-level device, like a tablet"? Yes, I can't wait to use AutoCAD with a pointing device that has a precision of ughhh about my thumb's size. And let's not get into the whole privacy thing. A 1 TB drive is, what, fifty bucks today -- and people would rather store their files in a datacenter across the ocean?
- tashoecraft 12y ago
  You’re thinking about how people are currently using their devices instead of thinking about how they will be. You could access your computer from any internet connected device, anywhere. Hook up your oculus rift to their paperweight and have a full powered computer anywhere (with internet access). While they are mentioning you can use AutoCad, I'd say that is merely to show that it can handle intensive applications. The majority wants to be able to surf the internet, and with this, you would never need to buy another computer again. For the random times you need to run Photoshop it can do it and will scale up to it, other times it scales down to handle your reddit addiction. Look at how many people use Dropbox, iCloud, Google drive, etc etc. Everyone is already ok with storing their files in a datacenter. Privacy issues or not, people have accepted it is fact and the high majority already do it. That's not to say it is right, but it's a given that people want convenience over privacy. Buying a Macbook air costs around 1k. And most people seem to upgrade ever 4-6 years. This costs $10/month. The cost savings are blatant. I know I’m comparing it with a mac and they are overpriced and you could do so much better, blah blah blah. The fact is that if latency problems can be overcome, there is really no reason beside privacy that one needs to own and maintain their own computer. Rented space that you pay monthly for is cheaper, and will adapt to fit your specific needs. It works much better for a internet connected society to share several supercomputers then for individuals to each own their own.
  - walterbell 12y ago
api 12y ago
I can easily create a Windows or Linux desktop machine in the cloud at Digital Ocean or Vultr.com for very little money and access it with rdesktop and/or a VPN. Amazon has a slightly more "enterprise" desktop-in-cloud offering that's basically the same idea.
- DTE 12y ago
  A lot of the underlying technology for paperspace certainly exists today and its best to think of what we are doing as providing a layer on top of it all (and polishing the pieces that didn't work so great before): To give an analogy, cloud storage was definitely around long before dropbox and google drive. It was simple, I uploaded a file to FTP, you opened your FTP client, and we could share files. The reality was that less tech-savvy people might never get past the install step. What dropbox/google drive/box did was take an existing (and increasingly commodity) offering and wrapped it in a layer that made it accessible to a whole new class of users. Digital Ocean is amazing and we are shooting for the same simplicity for full desktop computers.
angryasian 12y ago
yo dawg I heard you need a computer to use your computer. Jokes aside, tablets/phones are carried with us everywhere and for on the go can accomplish most of what one may do when they are away from a dedicated pc. I can ssh into any one of my computers and do whatever is needed from my phone for the most part. I'm really curious as to what the main use case would be ? I think this would make big strides in saving licensing costs if it were possible for certain cases where a shared computer may make sense.
xmonkee 12y ago
I'm sorry, is this a running joke on HN? The first reply is always some bland, obvious attack on whatever is posted. I mean, the fact that a streaming computer in the cloud is sensitive to network hiccups is so obvious to anyone who sees this it's not even a valid criticism.
- throwawaymsft 12y ago
  Yep, HN is home of the middlebrow dismissal. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5072224 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5072224
- kstenerud 12y ago
  Actually, I wasn't the first reply. TBH I was expecting this to be buried since I was so late to the party. But regardless, my criticism is that slow speed in the hardware is rarely a problem these days. Almost every "slow computer" problem I've diagnosed in recent times (that hasn't been due to McAffee) has in fact just been a slow internet connection or a misconfigured router. When you're not a computer expert, it's hard to know why your Youtube video stutters. So yes, they will probably get a lot of sign ups with a mantra of "faster", but IMO this isn't solving the actual problem that users tend to have with computer "slowness". In fact, it will only exacerbate it, although that might be good for pushing towards greater bandwidth. I'm also not too keen on putting even more of my data on someone else's system.
- ape4 12y ago
  Sometimes the obvious criticism is the right one.

benoliver999 12y ago

I'm having a weird issue where my modem keeps restarting. I'll fix it, but it's not bad enough to worry about. With paperspace, I get to break into a cold sweat because I can't access my shit!

DTE 12y ago

General computers are undoubtedly getting fast enough for a lot people. However, hosted computers (VDI, DaaS, etc) can do things that regular computers can't. I hate having to upgrade a physical computer (which isn't even an option on laptops usually) and with a VM that is no longer a concern. If you need more power (which admittedly not everyone does) its really is a click away. Transferring large files is also something that is still not easy to do with existing cloud storage options because the model is flipped (both parties have to upload and download over a single connection). By contrast, when using two hosted paperspace machines, you can transfer files nearly instantaneously. Effectively you trade one type of network transfer (the remote desktop image) for another (a big file you might be collaborating on with someone) and in some cases thats a huge win.

27182818284 12y ago

I very much like Browserstack for doing this as it allows for easy testing. I just don't like Browserstack's pricing as no shop I've worked in, and my own company, has ever needed it continuously. Rather, we need sorta pay-as-you-go minutes like cheap cell phones

nine_k 12y ago

This is not about the cost of hardware or software, it's about the price (and hassle) of maintaining them. Also, it's not about browsing reddit and accessing gmail; it's more about 'real' office applications and the like. In certain non-tech-savvy environments, such a thing has a very good chance of adoption. Also, it's a nice venue for renting heavyweight applications (like CAD, graphics, finance, etc) for a limited time, with a full guarantee against violating the policy by users.

fudged71 12y ago
Not just maintaining, but upgrading too. Imagine never needing to update your computer again from both software and hardware perspective.
- spc476 12y ago
  And having to find out that some obscure feature you were using is now gone, and some other semi-obscure feature you were using is now in a different location and you have to rework your entire workflow yet again. It gets tiresome after twenty years.

weland 12y ago

But but but the web is the future! I see people complaining about the hassles of maintaining a computer. Seriously? It's been like... how many years since basically everyone introduced that "revert to when this was working" state? And even if it weren't for that, if maintaining a computer is so much of a hassle, how exactly is this supposed to be accessed? With browsers running on the holodeck? "From a consumer-level device, like a tablet"? Yes, I can't wait to use AutoCAD with a pointing device that has a precision of ughhh about my thumb's size. And let's not get into the whole privacy thing. A 1 TB drive is, what, fifty bucks today -- and people would rather store their files in a datacenter across the ocean?

tashoecraft 12y ago
You’re thinking about how people are currently using their devices instead of thinking about how they will be. You could access your computer from any internet connected device, anywhere. Hook up your oculus rift to their paperweight and have a full powered computer anywhere (with internet access). While they are mentioning you can use AutoCad, I'd say that is merely to show that it can handle intensive applications. The majority wants to be able to surf the internet, and with this, you would never need to buy another computer again. For the random times you need to run Photoshop it can do it and will scale up to it, other times it scales down to handle your reddit addiction. Look at how many people use Dropbox, iCloud, Google drive, etc etc. Everyone is already ok with storing their files in a datacenter. Privacy issues or not, people have accepted it is fact and the high majority already do it. That's not to say it is right, but it's a given that people want convenience over privacy. Buying a Macbook air costs around 1k. And most people seem to upgrade ever 4-6 years. This costs $10/month. The cost savings are blatant. I know I’m comparing it with a mac and they are overpriced and you could do so much better, blah blah blah. The fact is that if latency problems can be overcome, there is really no reason beside privacy that one needs to own and maintain their own computer. Rented space that you pay monthly for is cheaper, and will adapt to fit your specific needs. It works much better for a internet connected society to share several supercomputers then for individuals to each own their own.
- walterbell 12y ago

api 12y ago

I can easily create a Windows or Linux desktop machine in the cloud at Digital Ocean or Vultr.com for very little money and access it with rdesktop and/or a VPN. Amazon has a slightly more "enterprise" desktop-in-cloud offering that's basically the same idea.

DTE 12y ago
A lot of the underlying technology for paperspace certainly exists today and its best to think of what we are doing as providing a layer on top of it all (and polishing the pieces that didn't work so great before): To give an analogy, cloud storage was definitely around long before dropbox and google drive. It was simple, I uploaded a file to FTP, you opened your FTP client, and we could share files. The reality was that less tech-savvy people might never get past the install step. What dropbox/google drive/box did was take an existing (and increasingly commodity) offering and wrapped it in a layer that made it accessible to a whole new class of users. Digital Ocean is amazing and we are shooting for the same simplicity for full desktop computers.

angryasian 12y ago

yo dawg I heard you need a computer to use your computer. Jokes aside, tablets/phones are carried with us everywhere and for on the go can accomplish most of what one may do when they are away from a dedicated pc. I can ssh into any one of my computers and do whatever is needed from my phone for the most part. I'm really curious as to what the main use case would be ? I think this would make big strides in saving licensing costs if it were possible for certain cases where a shared computer may make sense.

xmonkee 12y ago

I'm sorry, is this a running joke on HN? The first reply is always some bland, obvious attack on whatever is posted. I mean, the fact that a streaming computer in the cloud is sensitive to network hiccups is so obvious to anyone who sees this it's not even a valid criticism.

throwawaymsft 12y ago
Yep, HN is home of the middlebrow dismissal. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5072224 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5072224
kstenerud 12y ago
Actually, I wasn't the first reply. TBH I was expecting this to be buried since I was so late to the party. But regardless, my criticism is that slow speed in the hardware is rarely a problem these days. Almost every "slow computer" problem I've diagnosed in recent times (that hasn't been due to McAffee) has in fact just been a slow internet connection or a misconfigured router. When you're not a computer expert, it's hard to know why your Youtube video stutters. So yes, they will probably get a lot of sign ups with a mantra of "faster", but IMO this isn't solving the actual problem that users tend to have with computer "slowness". In fact, it will only exacerbate it, although that might be good for pushing towards greater bandwidth. I'm also not too keen on putting even more of my data on someone else's system.
ape4 12y ago
Sometimes the obvious criticism is the right one.