If you are a user of the free version of LogMeIn you may have received an email today informing you that the free version of this product has been discontinued, immediately. Even if you didn't get the email, logging in to the service will display the warning below. For the more technically inclined this may be meaningless or a great excuse to finally set up SSH on a Linux box. For those relatives who purchased a decent version of Windows, Remote Desktop Connection is also a reasonable choice, assuming you can set up a user on that machine and properly configure your network to allow RDP to connect successfully.
However as the commentators on Slashdot are quick to mention this won't help you with old aunt Bessie who lives on the other side of the country. You can't get to her machine to configure the proper settings nor is she going to be willing to have to interact with the machine in order to allow you to connect any more than she has in the past. In some cases join.me will suffice for now, keep in mind it is also a free service from LogMeIn and could also disappear without warning at any time if today's move is any indication of their plans. Alternatives such as TeamViewer and Crossloop may be able to fill in for LogMeIn in those situations; have you had any experience with those solutions or have other suggestions for remote assistance of those less technically inclined friends and relatives we all have in abundance?
"The remote desktop service LogMeIn sent an email to its users today notifying them that 'LogMeIn Free' will be discontinued — as of today. This is a major shock with minimal warning to the millions of users who have come to rely on their service, made all the more surprising by the fact that 'consensus revenue estimates for LogMeIn in 2014 are $190.3 million,' suggesting that their system of providing both free and paid accounts for what is ultimately a straightforward service that could be duplicated for well under $1 million was already doing quite well."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- How to Move Files Using Linux Commands or File Managers @ Linux.com
- Sandisk's future is far from ULLtraDIMM: Diablo tie-up holds promise @ The Inquirer
- Cooler Master Goes Apples at 2014 CES, Gets HAF Stacked @ Benchmark Reviews
- InWin 901: A Story of Tempered Glass @ Benchmark Reviews
- 4K-ing hell! Will your shiny new Ultra HD TV actually display HD telly? @ The Register
- iPhone 6 rumours, price and release date @ The Inquirer
Must not be universal as I am
Must not be universal as I am a home and corporate user of LogMeIn. We have a LogMeIn Central account, with dozens of “free” licenses applied to workstations, servers, etc. And at home I have 1 pro license and 2 free licenses. No emails for either account…yet?
Damian
There is actually a nice
There is actually a nice LogMeIn Blog post about the changes. From what I can gather, it looks like if you had any pro licenses you will be transitioned to a “premium” account, and LogMeIn Central will not be affected (nor cubby, join.me…for now).
http://blog.logmein.com/it-management/logmein-changes
So there is some hope, but probably not the best way to spread news…with a 7 day warning.
Damian
team viewer, has a remote
team viewer, has a remote access feature built right in.
teamviewer user for years..
teamviewer user for years.. love it and never had any issues even behind NATs on both ends…
I just installed teamviewer
I just installed teamviewer on my parents PC remotely using logmein and it seems to be working fine. The only thing that can be an issue is every PC that you install teamviewer on has access to your full list of computers that you have in your account. It’s not a show stopper since a password is needed but if the user is somewhat computer savy they might be able to connect to computers on your account. Maybe there is away around that to just install the connect service but I have not figure that out yet.
Teamviewer for years as well
Teamviewer for years as well for private & business use. Better experience with it compared to Logmein which a colleague of mine was using to remote in from his iPad to his laptop at work….slow as hell. Never had that issue with Teamviewer and is always nice and fast even through our corporate VPN.
Team viewer is nice. I also
Team viewer is nice. I also like to use ShowMyPC on occassion as it’s less of a headache for the technically deficient and works across a lot of platforms. I’ve tried LogMeIn, but for home use helping a friend or family out with some support, you can’t pass up the other free features. TV,SMP, or even for a quick connection through Google hangouts are great. Best of luck LogMeIn, I won’t miss you.
btw, i thought Windows
btw, i thought Windows already has a similar function built in, called Remote PC… 😛
hahaha 😀
It’s mentioned in article as
It’s mentioned in article as RDP, but getting through to PC with it might not be easiest. For support there is adapted variant Remote Help.
Couple options beside already
Couple options beside already mentioned. Like UltraVNC. (quite few options and is free/open sourced – like UltraVNC Single Click or PcHelpware) Also it has number of interesting addons.
Then if one has access to Server edition, then there is module for custom deployment of Remote Help. I don’t know full details as I don’t use it. (yet)
BTW: There are number of derived programs from VNC.
VNC’s protocol may not be as
VNC’s protocol may not be as smooth as RDP, but it gets the job done and it’s free and always will be. TightVNC FTW! Don’t care about all the fanciness so long as it gets the job done. Of course if you’re in the business of fixing peoples PC’s for profit you’re going to want a service like LMI or TeamViewer for simplicity, but if it’s for your business you should be paying for it anyways.
It shouldn’t be that big of a deal to port forward protocols in a router. There is a webpage with step-by-step instructions for just about every consumer device out there. That’s not really an excuse anymore in my book.
Logmein free going away is a
Logmein free going away is a huge disappointment for all logmein users. It was working good. But now users have started looking out for alternatives like RHUB, TeamViewer, GoToMyPC, Bomgar etc. for remotely accessing computers.