I found this email quite insulting. I work for a struggling dot-com in America. In a world where RealVNC itself costs nothing, and where Remote Admin (for Windows only, but as we know many US companies think Windows is somehow a Godsend... which of course it's not) costs, what, $50 for every 2 computers?... well, $500 for a slight spinoff of VNC is ridiculous.
My company could not afford this software if we WANTED to... and I seriously doubt that even larger companies in the US could, or this point. I certainly hope that "Expert VNC" does not become the new corporate standard. The days where you can take an open-source/free software package, make some changes, add support, and sell it for beaucoup de bucks are LONG since over, guys. Reality check time. On Mon, 2 Jun 2003 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Expert VNC - An Independent Review > > After Joel Bomgaars posted his topic advertising Expert VNC to the list, there was > quite a bit of controversy over it, weather it > legal, secure, the cost, etc. > I too posted a reply, asking a few questions regarding these issues, at which point > Joel offered to give me a demo copy, to test, and > give an independent review. > So I did! > How did I demo the program? Well I have a friend who at Uni in Portsmouth (UK), her > net connection is behind a firewall, which allows > outgoing traffic, but blocks incoming. She's always having PC problems, and as she > isn't very computer literate herself it usually > means a trip down to Portsmouth to fix. I've tried to use VNC, but her firewall > blocks the connection. > So, the day before hearing about Expert VNC, I got a call from her again, apparently > she's managed to uninstall her soundcard, and > couldn't get it working again. So I was looking at having to go down and see her, > and install the soundcard again. However up on > hearing about Expert VNC, and being given the opportunity to demo it, I thought I'd > give it a try. > I emailed her the server demo (which is only 265k), and ran my viewer demo (126k). > When she opened the server demo, I gave her my IP > address, which she entered into the connection box. This then goes out through her > firewall, and connects to my viewer. This means > there is pretty good security, you can't connect to a users PC, with out them > running the server, and then entering your IP address. > Once she's done that, I can control her PC, which is what I did, after 5 minutes, > I'd loaded the soundcard drivers back on and had it > all working again. > So I'll try and clear up some of the questions that were being asked. Is it > insecure? Not as far as I can see, although I'm not really > an expert in those fields, but the fact the application has to be launched by the > end user, who then has to enter your IP address > before you can connect makes it as secure as any other remote admin program. > Is it legal? Again I'm no expert, but VNC is open source, and distributed under the > GNU General Public License and none of the original > VNC files have been modified, so as far as I can see, yes! > What is the cost? At first I thought the cost was $495 per license, meaning if I > wanted to support all 200 workstation on our site, it > would cost $99,000. But after running this past Joel, I found that you only need 1 > license for every PC that's going to SUPPORT the > other workstations, they don't actually need a license, as the software is only > installed while your supporting them. A better way of > doing this maybe by saying the 'Server' is free, but you need to buy a license for > the 'Host'. > So, my verdict! Is it useful, yes, for supporting users who are behind a firewall > its excellent, and as far as I can see there are no > security or legal issues. > However, I think the cost per license ($495) is maybe a little on the steep side, > I'm sure more people would be interested, if the cost > were halved or something, or the pricing scheme re-worked/re-worded, so you get the > server for free, but host you pay for. > > Hope this clears up some of the questions! > > Ben Blackmore > > ========================================================== > Triumph International Ltd > Arkwright Road, Groundwell, Swindon, SN25 5BE > > Ben Blackmore > I.T. Department > > Phone: +44 (0) 1793 720126 > Fax: +44 (0) 1793 720179 > Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Visit us at: http://www.triumph-international.co.uk > > ========================================================== > This message is for the designated recipient only and may contain > privileged, proprietary, or otherwise private information. If you have > received it in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete > the original. Any other use of the email by you is prohibited. > ========================================================== > _______________________________________________ > VNC-List mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To remove yourself from the list visit: > http://www.realvnc.com/mailman/listinfo/vnc-list > J e s s i c a L e a h B l a n k _______________________________________________ VNC-List mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To remove yourself from the list visit: http://www.realvnc.com/mailman/listinfo/vnc-list
