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Mainframe2: Run any software in a browser

mainframe2.com

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Re: Mainframe2: Run any software in a browser

#31

Post by riskable »

kayoone wrote: post #25

PC-over-IP is coming and already has HTML5 clients. With dedicated decoding hardware you can even play streamed games at low latency and good framerates http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YJwekaJ6Ys I wonder where personal computing will go. Either this where the personal pc is more or less a dumb terminal, or something like ChromeOS with a Client/Server hybrid approach.

Another example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zJ8TNcWTyo

That's Gate One's forthcoming X11 feature. Still haven't got audio working yet...

Re: Mainframe2: Run any software in a browser

#32

Post by bri3d »

aus_ wrote: post #27
TallGuyShort wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... then you must enjoy this classic: http://www.coboloncogs.org/INDEX.HTM I've toyed with the idea of setting up mainframes-as-a-service. I would probably just run the various Linux distributions running inside Hercules and abstract it away as cleanly as possible. You'd never get the performance or capacity, but you'd get a cheap, easy emulation for coding and small-scale testing. It's been a while since I had time…

This isn't actually too far fetched. IBM has a product called Rational Developer and Test Environment for System z[0] which allows you to run z/OS or any other s390 architecture in their hypervisor. Think of it as an enterprise version of Hercules that runs the latest version mainframe software. (Hercules can but licensing prevents this.) You could then essentially build a real "mainframe-as-a-service" (as you said)…

I don't think IBM would license RDT for use as a mainframe-as-a-service, so Hercules would be just as illegal (and probably easier to set up).

Re: Mainframe2: Run any software in a browser

#33

Post by widerlens »

I'm Nikola, a founder of Mainframe2.

Lots of good questions -- you can find a good info on what we do here: http://www.brianmadden.com/blogs/brianmadden/archive/2013/12...

1. We'll support all HTML5 compliant browsers on all OSs at launch. This public demo is designed as a technology preview and we're primarily focused on user experience, not necessarily feature completeness. If you still want to try the demo, we recommend Chrome -- it's is lightweight and free.

2. It's running on AWS G2 instance with NVIDIA GRID indeed.

3. Any Windows (and soon Linux) app can be onboarded to the system in about 10 minutes, then scaled/delivered to thousands of users.

4. There are also native terminals for Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android.

5. Session time is limited to a couple of minutes (to handle the load) but you can jump back in if you want to.

For more details and early access, sign up for our beta (there's a form on our home page).

Cheers, Nikola

Re: Mainframe2: Run any software in a browser

#34

Post by widerlens »

mtdewcmu wrote: post #18
wmf wrote: post #7

To be clear, this does not run software in the browser; it runs software in the cloud and displays it in the browser. Given the possibility of actually running apps in the browser I think this distinction matters.

I clicked the link to figure out how they solved the numerous technical problems of running native applications in a browser. It's a deceptive claim, and the web page is content-free, all marketing. I don't think it belongs on HN, at least not with that headline.

You can click on the player to run a Windows app (Blender) in your browser -- how is that content free?

Re: Mainframe2: Run any software in a browser

#35

Post by widerlens »

kayoone wrote: post #25

PC-over-IP is coming and already has HTML5 clients. With dedicated decoding hardware you can even play streamed games at low latency and good framerates http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YJwekaJ6Ys I wonder where personal computing will go. Either this where the personal pc is more or less a dumb terminal, or something like ChromeOS with a Client/Server hybrid approach.

PC-over-IP is a protocol. Mainframe2 is a service. It's like comparing SVN to Dropbox. Also, apps on Mainframe2 run just fine on Chromebook today (we'll post back once public demo is ready).

Nikola (founder at Mainframe2)

Re: Mainframe2: Run any software in a browser

#37

Post by vitovito »

riskable wrote: post #31
kayoone wrote: post #25

PC-over-IP is coming and already has HTML5 clients. With dedicated decoding hardware you can even play streamed games at low latency and good framerates http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YJwekaJ6Ys I wonder where personal computing will go. Either this where the personal pc is more or less a dumb terminal, or something like ChromeOS with a Client/Server hybrid approach.

Another example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zJ8TNcWTyo That's Gate One's forthcoming X11 feature. Still haven't got audio working yet...

I tried really hard to get audio out of a remote Xen VM without a soundcard, for quite some time, and failed.

Happy to send you my notes, see if you get farther.

Re: Mainframe2: Run any software in a browser

#38

Post by mtdewcmu »

riskable wrote: post #30
mtdewcmu wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A browser-based vt100 terminal -- how cool would that be? I wonder if you could run X11 in a browser. You'd have to get around the fact that it couldn't accept client connections, but otherwise, it seems plausible.

You mean like Gate One ( https://github.com/liftoff/GateOne )? Right now it's just an HTML5 terminal/SSH client but soon it will also do X11 (video demo): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zJ8TNcWTyo It will basically do the same thing as Mainframe2 except it'll be open source and you'll be able to run it (the server) wherever you like. I've been working on the X11 support quite a lot over the past few weeks... Hopeful…

That's cool. I can't foresee too many issues in putting an X server in the browser. Except that if you left the page, all of the clients would get killed in a fairly rough fashion. Could you run a window manager?

Re: Mainframe2: Run any software in a browser

#39

Post by mtdewcmu »

widerlens wrote: post #34
mtdewcmu wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I clicked the link to figure out how they solved the numerous technical problems of running native applications in a browser. It's a deceptive claim, and the web page is content-free, all marketing. I don't think it belongs on HN, at least not with that headline.

You can click on the player to run a Windows app (Blender) in your browser -- how is that content free?

I guess I missed that. I was looking for a link to an About page or a FAQ.

Re: Mainframe2: Run any software in a browser

#40

Post by erazzzor »

guys, but you are all missing the point here.

with mainframe2 and other companies in the space (such as, khm, Amazon with their AppStream) software vendors get to deliver big old windows applications such as Photoshop, AutoCAD etc to a number of users who either don't have big windows workstations to run them, don't want to bother downloading and installing gigabytes of software, or don't want to pay many $$$ for a perpetual license when they only need to use the software few hours a month. Now they can all transition to SaaS ..

there was another company in the space that got my attention called OTOY. They made partnerships with Mozilla and AutoDesk to deliver AutoDesk tools in the browser, their demos also look pretty cool though I'm not sure what's their commercial offer gonna be, likely not the full stack like mainframe2 ..

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