Apparently, Amazon isn't content with taking on the enterprise server market and the likes of HP, Dell and IBM in the data center. Now, with WorkSpaces -- introduced at Amazon's re:Invent conference last week -- the cloud computing giant is going after what's left of the PC business with a new VDI-like alternative.
On reflection, WorkSpaces is a natural fit for a company that's been serving up millions of virtual server instances for years. Why not tweak the hardware, add a little software with a focus on mobile devices, stir in a new pricing model and unleash a service that undermines the need for an actual PC?
Technically, WorkSpaces is nothing new. Amazon's service is just pushing pixels over the wire using a cloud-optimized network protocol. This approach makes sense when your endpoint is often a smartphone or tablet while the system actually crunching application code is a virtual Xeon core with almost 4 GB memory and 50 GB of storage.
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