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Comment by hb3b | Hacker News Reader

And of course in typical Azure fashion this service requires an enterprise agreement, can't be tested using free credits, and requires a 12 seat up-front commitment. I'm interested to know if anyone knows of a cheaper service than this or AWS Workspaces from a reputable provider.

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You could try Paperspace (YCW15, https://www.paperspace.com) for hosted Windows or Linux desktops. We run our own hardware to keep costs low, all instances have a GPU, and we built a streaming algorithm that works extremely well. We also have native apps for all desktop platforms and a killer web receiver as well :)

[disclaimer: I'm one of the co-founders]

Nice! Do you guys have any plans to support macOS in the future?

It says here[1] they have a Mac app.

Or did you mean offering MacOS as a virtual desktop? I don't believe there is a MacOS license that allows this.

1. https://www.paperspace.com/app

So, I have this problem where windows is completely unworkable, but once in a blue moon (say 4 hours once a year), I need desktop office.

Can I delete my vm between uses, and quickly spin up an office license for those 4 hours? I can pay significantly more than $0.28 / year if the process is slicker than dealing with a windows vm that gets booted once every 12 months (and then spends hours patching itself before it is usable).

Huh? Azure does not require an enterprise agreement and it's pretty easy to get $100 or $200 free credit, basically no questions asked. And the only thing you can't use that on is certain images that are billed at a higher rate (i.e. Red Hat images).

And where does it say that a 12 seat commitment is required?

(Disclosure: I work for Azure, but nowhere near anything Windows, or this product. I'm a Linux nut and besides I'm not even convinced it's an Azure thing, this smells more like a WDG thing...)

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