Microsoft Remote Desktop Connect Rocks!

[nerveosu]

Microsoft Remote Desktop Connect Rocks!

I am posting this message from an xp pro pc that I am controling from my G4 5 miles away. It is almost as fast as virtual pc except it is 1000 times more usefull for those of with pc at work.

Does apple have some thing like this for Mac to Mac sessions?

Awsome product Microsoft,

-Bill

[rojazz]

check out vnc. it's cool stuff. i'm not sure about how good the mac support is (they have a program for macs, but i've never tried it out). the windows and linux support is top notch though.

http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/

[szark]

Originally posted by nerveosu
Does apple have some thing like this for Mac to Mac sessions?

Yep. Apple Remote Desktop (http://www.apple.com/remotedesktop/). :)

[mnkeybsness]

i must agree that it is great...but does it work on XP home?

and a quick question...why is microsoft so complicated with making 2 systems...home and pro...can't they just be good like apple and make only one version...one more reason why i love os x?

[awrc]

mnkeybsness:

No, Microsoft RDC only works with the following:

* Windows XP Professional
* Windows .NET Standard Server
* Windows .NET Enterprise Server
* Windows 2000 Server
* Windows 2000 Advanced Server
* Windows 2000 Datacenter Server
* Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition

So, basically all their higher end servers that normally offer Terminal Services, plus XP Pro (where the "remote desktop" troubleshooting feature is essentially a single user Terminal Server). If someone else is using RDC to connect to an XP Pro box, and you force a connect, you kick the other person off.

Only tried it with XP Pro so far, where it works quite nicely, although I've found the client to be rather crash-prone (but at least when you reconnect your session is still going) Not 100% sure how much of the crashing is the client or due to my wireless network dropping data and RDC bailing on me because iof this.

rojazz:

Have to say that RDC is much slicker to use than VNC although it's obviously not got the cross-platform flexibility, and I've no idea how well it tunnels over ssh, for example.

VNC was the first solution I tried for using my XP box from the Mac. I'd favorably compare RDC over my 802.11 wireless network with VNC over 100BaseT full duplex, but without VNC's screen-redraw issues. Note that since I used VNC regularly in the past over DSL to get to my work Windows and Linux boxes, I've no idea whether it's the case that the Mac VNC client is buggy, or if the Windows one was exceptionally good.

Both RDC and VNC crash reasonably often, but with RDC it's usually just a matter of restarting the client (which is good because the XP box is in another room and I'm hobbling around here on crutches and tend to fall over), whereas with VNC it usually required directly logging into the XP box to restart the VNC server.

Nobody's about to start playing Quake 3remotely using either :D I'd consider both to be usable for short remote admin tasks. I'm not yet sure whether I consider RDC to be usable enough for my needs (which is basically doing .NET development without having the PC roaring away under my desk) - I long ago ruled out VNC for this, it just wouldn't stay up long enough. Maybe once I'm healthy and can get the Mac wired into the same switch as the PC I'll see if there's a reliability difference.

I think most people were caught completely off guard by this - suddenly, out of nowhere, Microsoft releases a useful, needed piece of software that *doesn't* compel the user to switch to their platform to use it, and gives it away for free.

[saabmp3]

VNC is by far one of the best programs ever written IMHO. I use/used it at my job to control up to 600 client machines over a 10 mile network (aka a user calls up with a problem, and I can look at their machine to fix it). The only problem with it is if you look at the new microsoft EULA for XP, it specifically states that programs like VNC are not allowed. I wonder why....

BEN

[dotcomlarry]

Connecting to my XP box at home from work... RDC crashes every 30 seconds if i'm typing a lot... longer, if i'm just pointing and clicking.

Remember, user experience may vary.

[buffsldr]

Originally posted by nerveosu
Microsoft Remote Desktop Connect Rocks!

I am posting this message from an xp pro pc that I am controling from my G4 5 miles away. It is almost as fast as virtual pc except it is 1000 times more usefull for those of with pc at work.

Does apple have some thing like this for Mac to Mac sessions?

Awsome product Microsoft,

-Bill

Glad to hear that you are having such good success. I tried to use it and failed. Do i need to install something on the pc? If so, can you provide me a hyperlink to where i can find it? thank you.