
Mainframe2: Run any software in a browser - Charles__L
http://www.mainframe2.com/
======
wmf
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.

~~~
mtdewcmu
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.

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

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

------
TallGuyShort
I might suggest changing the text color of the quote - it's very hard to read
some of it on the bright-sunlight background.

So is this basically software run on a remote machine, but presented visually
and interactively VNC-style in my browser? Looks a lot smoother than VNC, of
course, just trying to get a feel for what the product is.

~~~
ExpiredLink
Bedazzled by the bright sunlight. I guess that's intentional.

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jareds
As a Mainframe programmer I was Disappointed when I looked at the page. I was
hoping this would be a web based Mainframe emulator possibly running public
domain versions of OS/360.

~~~
TallGuyShort
... then you must enjoy this classic:
[http://www.coboloncogs.org/INDEX.HTM](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 for a side-project but I'd still
love to work on this.

~~~
aus_
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) by deploying a Linux VM that has RDT
installed and configured. Mainframe developers can spin up their VMs for on-
demand dev and QA enivornments.

I know, because I am the system programmer who set this up internally at my
company.

[0]:
[http://www-03.ibm.com/software/products/en/ratideveandtesten...](http://www-03.ibm.com/software/products/en/ratideveandtestenviforsystz/)

~~~
bri3d
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).

~~~
aus_
You're right. They would never allow you to create a business out of offering
mainframe-as-a-service. But internally, offering this service to your
developers in a large enterprise is feasible.

------
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...](http://www.brianmadden.com/blogs/brianmadden/archive/2013/12/09/mainframe2.aspx)

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

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lcampbell
> You can upload any application from Mainframe2 in 10 minutes. With Citrix or
> VMWare, it takes at least four months to do the same thing.[1]

Four months? I am at a loss for words.

\--

[1]
[http://www.mainframe2.com/infographic](http://www.mainframe2.com/infographic)

~~~
mtdewcmu
I guess the assumption is that if you're running the application with Citrix
or VMWare, you'd have no other choice but to travel to the cloud datacenter on
foot and install it manually on the server from a DVD. Fair assumption, I
guess.

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adrianpike
That's pretty neat - I hadn't heard about NVIDIA GRID before -
[http://www.nvidia.com/object/nvidia-
grid.html](http://www.nvidia.com/object/nvidia-grid.html)

------
kayoone
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](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.

~~~
riskable
Another example:

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zJ8TNcWTyo](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zJ8TNcWTyo)

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

~~~
vitovito
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.

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rpedela
It sounds great (we will see if it is of course), but then there is some stuff
about outsourcing on the infographic page which just confused me. What does
outsourcing have to do with running my application on their servers? Are they
offering an outsourcing service?

Also I got a "browser not supported" error when I played the video. I am
running Ubuntu with Firefox. Honestly not a good sign...

~~~
runako
>> What does outsourcing have to do with running my application on their
servers?

I'm guessing it's because the hiring company can point a contractor at a pre-
configured machine with a known stack, data, etc. (kind of like using the
company laptop).

------
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 ..

------
frio80
Cool but haven't we seen this before? IMO, something really groundbreaking is
numecent's cloudpaging[0] technology. Have a look.

[0]
[http://www.numecent.com/technology/cloudpaging.html](http://www.numecent.com/technology/cloudpaging.html)

------
alasdair_
Does this mean I can play games while not on my gaming PC?

EDIT: NM, looks like it's just something like VNC.

~~~
j_s
You might have missed the current discussion of SteamOS streaming:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6901223](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6901223)

------
D9u

        Your browser is not supported.
        Mainframe2 Beta supports the latest Chrome (Windows/Mac) or Safari (Mac).
    

It doesn't run on my Linux setup.

Too bad, if it ran on more device types, especially mobile, this would be a
killer.

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djolex
This is such a briliant concept. U dont need supercomputer to run hardcore
apps from your home computer, but you can still be as much productive as
working on latest and fastest computer. Keep up the good work. Djolex

------
X4
I tried with Firefox 25 and Google Chrome 31. Doesn't work on any of them.
"I'm getting: Your browser is not supported"

------
vsviridov
With Amazon's cloud desktop announcement, these guys will be in a tight
spot...

~~~
wrongc0ntinent
It can run on AWS: [http://venturebeat.com/2013/11/13/mainframe2-which-pipes-
win...](http://venturebeat.com/2013/11/13/mainframe2-which-pipes-windows-apps-
to-your-browser-gets-a-boost-from-amazon/)

------
brandonhsiao
Looks like the final nail in the coffin for Microsoft/Windows.

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michaelmior
If it's pure HTML5, why does it refuse to work on Linux?

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n00b101
This sounds like a good option for SaaS providers.

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zupa-hu
this sounds like the second coming of the webOS concept

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_operating_system](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_operating_system)

