Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Microsoft Launches 'Remote Desktop' Apps for Mac and iOS

snowatom said:
OMG what a crappy App... I have used iTap before which unfortunately have been discontiniued. They say on iTap's the website that MS will providing their own soon.

I really hope that this is not MS attemp to purchasing a company just to make their app worthless...

I paid for iTap, but the MS version is free, but so what it's CRAP...

I had so much hoped, that the only change would be a "made by MS" logo instead, and the iTap app whould be the same. But no, there are so many things you can't do in this app, that you could do in iTap. Won't even go into details, as there are hundres of things.

OK, you twisted my arm.... Pinch to zoom, hold pointer to magnify, change various settings ( ex. Resolution) multiple touch gestures (ex. Two finger touch for right mouse click, three fingers down for keyboard)... And so on and so on...

So sad...

snowatom
Click to expand...

Pretty sure the demise of iTap is only because Microsoft have now developed new apps.

iTap premium was shareware whereas this is free. They wouldn't have had a chance.

Microsoft also developed the technologies here first hand so can get it right.
 
GIZBUG said:
Same. I guess I don't put in my internal ip (from router) but the public IP. But i would guess we need to setup/configure something on our windows pc for this to work..
Click to expand...

You need to enable/allow remote desktop connections on Windows. And then you need to have some network knowledge.

On your local network, you need to know the IP address of your Windows machine.

When you come from the Internet, you need to a) know the public IP address of your router and b) you need to enable destination NAT from your router to the Windows machine; specifically you have to forward TCP port 3389.

When your Windows installation runs in a VM, do NOT share the host's IP address with it but let it use an own address - that makes life easier.

Also make sure that your firewalls are not blocking 3389.

----------
ugahairydawgs said:
So it comes out on Mac and iOS before WP and WinRT?

Seems....odd
Click to expand...

The RDC client has been part of Windows for ages...
 
Multiple Displays finally!

I'm pretty stoked that this new version of RDP for Mac now lets you have virtual monitors from your PC. Forever I have been looking for a way to spoof Windows into thinking it was connected to a second monitor so when I did an RDC connection I could have both my Mac monitors displaying PC work. The latest version allows me to use dual displays on my Mac even though my PC does not have any additional monitors connected.

Pretty happy here.
 
NCWildcat said:
I've been using the RDC that came with Office for Mac '11. I wonder if this will be any better?
Click to expand...
I do a lot of Windows SysAdmin stuff, and I'm giving this new OS X app a try.

Overall my biggest "like" is that it doesn't create a separate dock icon per RDP session.

The only thing I'm not liking is that if you just want to do a quick connection that you probably won't use again, it looks like you still have to click New, fill in the prompts, and then save the connection.

There are 500+ Windows boxes where I work, the majority of which I only have to RDP into once or twice a year. A handful I RDP to daily. This'll be interesting. I may keep the Office version of RDP around for the ones I don't regularly RDP into, and use this new version for the ones I do.
 
trekkie604 said:
I paid for iTap and will continue using it... This MS version blows... You can't even pinch to zoom...
Click to expand...


I totally agree. Why oh why did MS even buy the company. Did they even use the beautiful code?

So sad not to be getting further upgrades from iTap.. Miss you already.

Microsoft you've done it again. God luck with the Nokia purchase, oh and also with your Surface 2. Wonder how many things the second Surface model can do, that the iPad can't.

As there still is one vital thing the iPad can, that the the Surface can't....... Getting sold ;-)

snowatom
 
Last edited:
I just downloaded it at the office. My boss chuckled at one of the lines in the App Description, "Remote Desktop Client designed to help you get your work done wherever you are..." He is such a fanboy.

So I install it on my mac. I was able to remote into one of my desktops running Windows 7. Pretty sweet, not problems, all in a synch. But its nothing wow if you have used RDP or Teamviewer before...

I tried to remote into my Windows 8.1 Enterprise box and... it crapped out. Apparently it doesn't like 8.1. I also tried it on Windows 8.0, and doesn't like it either. I am pretty sure I must have something wrong, but I am too sleepy to troubleshoot it today.

I will probably have a crack at it on monday... when I am bored in a meeting or something.
 
Ferc Kast said:
Even as a techie, I cannot get it set up on the iPad app. They should have included a guide to how to set it up, so people could use it hassle-free like TeamViewer.
Click to expand...

TeamViewer can't be compared to RDP. With TeamViewer your computer makes the connection to a server, so no FW rule or port forwarding is needed. As the other part connects to a TeamViewer server that holds the connection to both clients.

With RDP it is point to point, so you have to keep the road open.

snowatom
 
newagemac said:
But can you access a Remote Desktop of a Windows PC that's actually served through a Virtual Machine on your Mac? Would love to be able to do this from my iPad to use Windows 8 since it's pretty good for touch based devices.
Click to expand...

Yep. I tried it and it works on iPad, though a little bit jerky which is expected due to processing powers of iPad.
 
djtech42 said:
Is Back To My Mac safe?
Click to expand...

Strictly speaking, no ports are safe to open to the internet. The only ports I open are the ports required for my VPN, which then allows me to access services on my network locally. There isn't a safer way to open up ports to the internet, but like I said, even that has its risks.
 
Some pretty ignorant comments in this thread. The Mac OS client is a huge improvement over iTap. Im not sure what you guys are smoking. Some examples:

Finally full screen support for each RDP-session.
Much better remote-FX acceleration. I can literally remote into my Server 2012 R2 and play 1080p flash in full screen.
Bringing in folders into the sessions works a lot better for folders with a lot of content.
Audio redirection finally works without any breakups.
Printing works reliable from what Ive tested.
You can finally use remote apps. Use the Work Resources button and tada! All your remote apps can be opened in their own windows.

Those are just some examples. Great work MS.
 
Remote Resources

Has anyone attempted connecting with the Remote Resources option? I got the app to recognize my RDS server and all of the programs have populated, but when I try to launch a program, I receive the following error:

Code: 
The gateway failed to connect with the message: 404 Not Found
 
Not sure this is something home users should be getting excited about.

Opening port 3389 to the internet is a very stupid thing to do, hackers will port scan you, they will find the open port, they will attempt a brute force attack. Which means you need to set up port forwarding. Chances are you won't have a static IP either so for connecting over the internet you will need a dynamic dns service.

So really not worth it for home users (unless its just within your home network) - stick to Teamviewer or Logmein or whatever.
 
Last edited:
I've had a quick play and I'm disappointed with it. I was really hoping they'd sort out the multiple connection management but it's useless for anything more than a handful of connections - I've got over 300.

Annoying as their (Windows) RDCMan app is excellent in this regard, not sure why they couldn't have incorporated the functionality from that in to the new Mac remote desktop app. So looks like I'll stick to firing up a Windows 7 VM in Fusion, just to run remote desktops.
 
Last edited:
Xenomorph said:
Holy heck - they MURDERED the iTap client.

They removed all kinds of options on the Desktop version (font smoothing, etc), and destroyed the iOS client. No portrait, no mouse pointer, messed up interface.
Click to expand...

To get the mouse pointer, try tapping in the title bar at the top of the screen. Then tap on the pen icon on the top left and it will turn into to a mouse pointer. That puts you into trackpad mode where the whoe screen acts as a trackpad to control the mouse pointer.

IMO, this is a good free app, but I still like Jump Desktop a whole lot more.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back