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Workstream: A fast virtual computer you can use for anything

workstream.paperspace.com

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Re: Workstream: A fast virtual computer you can use for anything

#141

Post by catblast »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #140

First, that is a pretty nice web site. The notion of this sort of virtual computer goes back a ways, the one thing I keep expecting to see but haven't yet is a fully encrypted experience where the "cloud" bits don't work unless the user's local display has a security token attached. My first experience with type of architecture was in the 80's with something called an "X terminal". All the same elements, a machine wi…

Citrix imploded? That’s news to me. It’s pretty much an industry standard in US healthcare.

Re: Workstream: A fast virtual computer you can use for anything

#142

Post by robenkleene »

bransonf wrote: post #88

Curious what folks think the outlook on this technology is. Rather, will there be any significant shift towards centralized compute in the next decade? Currently, a large institution/corporation has to manage thousands of individual machines. Say a physical component fails, now a technician must go to the location of the machine and give the user a temporary replacement. Alternatively, in a centralized compute enviro…

As someone in the Apple ecosystem, the first thing I think when I see a service like this is that this would let me keep doing the type of computing I want to be doing (e.g., software development, and using the big creative apps[0]), while still using devices that Apple is invested in improving (i.e., iOS devices, because they're not investing in macOS, or at least not the parts of macOS that support the type of software I want to run).

Therefore, unless Apple changes course, if I want to stay in their ecosystem (which is debatable), the only way I'd be able to do that is to start using a a service like this.

The way I see it there are three options:

1. Apple changes course and starts supporting powerful software again.

2. All powerful software becomes web-based a à la Figma.

3. Start using services like this.

The status quo cannot continue indefinitely, history has shown that when a popular product stagnates, an external player eventually figures out how to capitalize on it and takes over from the existing players (e.g., see the iPhone vs. flip phones, Firefox vs. IE, Sketch vs. Photoshop).

[0]: https://blog.robenkleene.com/2019/08/07/apples-app-stores-ha...

Re: Workstream: A fast virtual computer you can use for anything

#143

Post by davidjhall »

dbish wrote: post #123

I think there is a market here. I don't use this service, but instead use an EC2 instance as my developer box (for personal projects) and I do like being able to easily move between multiple machines, no matter where I am and easily spin up another instance when I want to start fresh or try out other setups like having a more powerful machine or something with a GPU. At work (I work at AWS) most people do the same fo…

What EC2 instance type do you use for a typical developer machine?

Re: Workstream: A fast virtual computer you can use for anything

#144

Post by third_I »

catblast wrote: post #141
ChuckMcM wrote: post #140

First, that is a pretty nice web site. The notion of this sort of virtual computer goes back a ways, the one thing I keep expecting to see but haven't yet is a fully encrypted experience where the "cloud" bits don't work unless the user's local display has a security token attached. My first experience with type of architecture was in the 80's with something called an "X terminal". All the same elements, a machine wi…

Citrix imploded? That’s news to me. It’s pretty much an industry standard in US healthcare.

I would like a minute of silence for all sysadmins working in healthcare. Having to deal with COVID on top of a Citrix infrastructure (if it can be called that) must be... well need I say more. Working with Citrix.

(PS: I'm joking, I hope the product has become stellar. It very much was not back in the day when I had 200 users on it).

Re: Workstream: A fast virtual computer you can use for anything

#145

Post by Bombthecat »

formercoder wrote: post #89
bransonf wrote: post #88

Curious what folks think the outlook on this technology is. Rather, will there be any significant shift towards centralized compute in the next decade? Currently, a large institution/corporation has to manage thousands of individual machines. Say a physical component fails, now a technician must go to the location of the machine and give the user a temporary replacement. Alternatively, in a centralized compute enviro…

Depends on latency requirements. Data analysis? Yep. Creative pros? Nope.

Why? People are ok to play online via stream. Why shouldnt for work also be ok?

Re: Workstream: A fast virtual computer you can use for anything

#147

Post by localhost »

vijaybritto wrote: post #133
localhost wrote: post #125

I'm curious what others here are paying for a cloud VM for dev tasks. My current favorite VM size on Azure is Standard_NC6_Promo that includes a K80 GPU, 56GB RAM with 8 vCPUs for $0.39/hour.

Which product is this? I cant seem to find it myself in Azure. Virtual Desktop? I can only see buttons asking to contact sales

It's just a Linux VM. Here's a link (search for NC6 Promo on the page): https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/virtual-ma.... Once up and running you can ssh into it and install whatever you want onto it.

Re: Workstream: A fast virtual computer you can use for anything

#148

Post by localhost »

azinman2 wrote: post #137
localhost wrote: post #125

I'm curious what others here are paying for a cloud VM for dev tasks. My current favorite VM size on Azure is Standard_NC6_Promo that includes a K80 GPU, 56GB RAM with 8 vCPUs for $0.39/hour.

When you say dev tasks, are you talking about machine learning? What dev tasks do you need 56G of ram for? I’m trying to figure out who these products are for. 0.39/h * 8h = $3.20/day, or approx $70/working month. And that’s on top of buying the computer you have to connect to this, with the annoyance of extra latency in all tasks. I can see the use of occasional demanding tasks using very large VMs on inexpensive co…

Sorry - yes ML tasks. The pricing is on par with a D8v3 but offers more RAM and a GPU, but likely with slower CPU perf (though I haven't benchmarked the machine).

My laptop doesn't have a discrete GPU, so I can't do any ML tasks on it so running a Jupyter server on a remote VM is my way of doing those tasks.

Re: Workstream: A fast virtual computer you can use for anything

#149

Post by ChuckMcM »

catblast wrote: post #141
ChuckMcM wrote: post #140

First, that is a pretty nice web site. The notion of this sort of virtual computer goes back a ways, the one thing I keep expecting to see but haven't yet is a fully encrypted experience where the "cloud" bits don't work unless the user's local display has a security token attached. My first experience with type of architecture was in the 80's with something called an "X terminal". All the same elements, a machine wi…

Citrix imploded? That’s news to me. It’s pretty much an industry standard in US healthcare.

Perhaps my choice of words was unwise.

My experience in the early 2000's supporting enterprises with network attached storage was they started moving away from Citrix to the VM/VNC solutions often from VMWare. At the same time Citrix started buying a bunch of different companies to expand into other markets.

That people still have to use it is a testament to this architecture pattern's resiliency in face of systemic challenges :-)

Re: Workstream: A fast virtual computer you can use for anything

#150

Post by somethingwitty1 »

dbish wrote: post #123

I think there is a market here. I don't use this service, but instead use an EC2 instance as my developer box (for personal projects) and I do like being able to easily move between multiple machines, no matter where I am and easily spin up another instance when I want to start fresh or try out other setups like having a more powerful machine or something with a GPU. At work (I work at AWS) most people do the same fo…

https://aws.amazon.com/workspaces/ perhaps? Seems like that is the existing AWS option similar to this offering. Would neat to see a comparison between the two.
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