[dquigley]

Anyone have suggestions for an alternative? I haven't ever found a product that works as consistently and seamlessly (without having to fight firewall issues).

Edit: I should add that I'm willing to pay for a service, but most of the options I've seen are for enterprise customers, not individuals with a few clients.

[msy]

Teamviewer's been great for mac & windows for me for a long time.

[dquigley]

I've used Teamviewer a few times, but I found it cumbersome compared to LogMeIn. I'll have to check it out further.

I'm also looking for something that can be used commercially, that doesn't cost a ton. I've looked at both Teamviewer's and LogMeIn's licenses in the past and found them unmanageable for some of my situations.

[trvr]

We use Bomgar at work. We have their physical appliance, but I believe it can be virtualized now. It's been pretty rock solid for what we need it for.

http://www.bomgar.com/

[mhp]

Copilot.com - It's free on the weekends!

source: I am a founder of Fog Creek Software, makers of Copilot.com

[gnud]

I currently use LogMeIn to help my grandma with her computer woes. I only log in remotely about once per month, and only for a few minutes - so a pay as you go option would be perfect for me.

I tried copilot - but it failed utterly and miserably on two points:

  - DPI. My grandmother's computer has a high DPI setting, so she can read menus/buttons. When connecting from my local computer, copilot just couldn't handle the DPI difference (appearently).

  - Windows 8/Metro. When my grandma was stuck in metro, I couldn't connect remotely. Which sort of defeated the purpose of the tool.

[dquigley]

Just checked it out. Looks interesting. The pricing structure is still not quite the perfect fit for me, so let me explain.

I've got around 20 clients I have to meet with in person every 6-12 weeks. I'd like to have a client app I can install on each of their computers (PC and Mac) so at any time I can jump on and help them without any prompt (other than possibly a "allow David access, yes or no" option.

It is likely that the real problem is that I'm just not charging enough. With what I current charge my clients, I can't justify $5 / month for a client who generates on average $15-30 in revenue each month (that's average, because I don't meet with them every month).

I like the Copilot Classic pay by the minute pricing, and if my users were more tech savy, that could work well. But they aren't and by the time I get them to connect to a website and get the screenshare running, they'd rather I just setup an appointment to meet with them in person. The Copilot Classic pricing structure though could work well for allowing me to answer any questions that take less than 15-20 minutes remotely and reserve onsite appointments for the bigger issues.

I'll still have to give it a try with a few of my more tech savy clients and see if we can't make it work. Thanks for the suggestion.

[nobodysfool]

Try "Windows Remote Assistance" it's super easy, as long as they are on Windows 7 or Vista.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/get-help-windows-...

[s_dev]

Joel Spolsky . . . Do nerd celebs really just wander around HN?

[mhp]

I'm not Joel Spolsky, but yes, nerd celebs do wander around HN.

[pasbesoin]

Joel is on here. Still pops up, occasionally (that I've noticed).

Many presences have seemingly declined, in the last few years. Interests and competing demands change for everyone; there's also some ongoing speculation that as HN has grown and, for lack of a better term, the signal/noise ratio has declined, those more interested in a focused and concentrated "signal" have lost interest, or patience with the noise.

Also, any individual's participation, even if held at a steady level, is likely to decline in prominence at least somewhat amidst the vastly increased HN traffic.

I can't speak for Joel on this (I don't know him, even remotely). But since the grandparent was speaking about presences more generally.

[kuusisto]

Michael Pryor I think, actually.

[michaelmior]

NoMachine[1] works well for me. Although it won't help with firewall issues. I'm lucky enough that the desktop machine in my office has a public IP. x11vnc[2] is a nice lightweight alternative that basically allows you to use any standard VNC client to connect to an existing X session.

[1] https://www.nomachine.com/ [2] http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/

[dale386]

This looks interesting. They make all of their money on enterprise licenses and give out their software for free to end users.

Also, they're about to fix their firewall limitation:

"NoMachine Anywhere is the next piece of the puzzle. NoMachine Anywhere is a free service, which will be available to everyone, enabling people to connect to each other's computer behind routers and firewalls, without the need for knowing their IP address. Initially slated for end 2013, it has been moved to first quarter 2014." -from their website

[SippinLean]

Teamviewer, RealVNC, RDP (Windows)

[AndrewDucker]

Seconding Teamviewer.

[pccampbell]

Buying the product.

[dquigley]

Unfortunately the pricing plans for LogMeIn and TeamViewer are setup for enterprise customers. I understand it might not be worthwhile for them to deal with smaller customers, but I'd love to find a product for less than $50 per month (preferably $5-25 a month). But I am not an expert on the costs of running the services that LogMeIn or TeamViewer offer, so maybe that's not possible.

[maaarghk]

Chrome Remote Desktop, if you use chrome.