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AWS Slashes Pricing for AppStream 2.0 Educational Users
Educational institutions can now run Amazon Web Services' desktop application streaming solution at a steeply discounted rate.
Launched at last year's AWS re:Invent conference, AppStream 2.0 is a managed service that lets customers stream desktop applications over the cloud to any HTML5-capable browser on a laptop or PC, whether it runs Windows, Linux, macOS or Chrome OS. AppStream 2.0 can stream any application that works on Windows Server 2012 R2 64-bit, according to this FAQ.
For education users, AWS has positioned AppStream 2.0 as a way for schools to give students of all ages access to educational and creative applications -- from Adobe Photoshop to specialized STEM software programs -- that might otherwise be out of their budgets.
On Wednesday, AWS announced it was reducing the monthly per-user price of AppStream 2.0 by 89 percent for qualifying educational users. Previously the monthly per-user fee was $4.19 -- the cost prescribed by Microsoft's Remote Desktop Services Subscription Access License (RDS-SAL) for Windows Server.
Effective immediately, however, the monthly per-user fee is now $0.44. The price cut will make "it easier for [educators] to incorporate AppStream 2.0 into [their] classroom," AWS said in its announcement.
Interested education customers can fill out this form to request the discounted price.
Besides the per-user fee, AppStream 2.0 customers are also charged for the compute resources they use up. That includes per-hour instance charges, which, in the U.S., can cost as little as $0.10 per hour to as much as $8.20 per hour for more graphics-intensive workloads.