Reply to post: This is why I prefer open source (VNC)

TeamViewer denies hack after PCs hijacked, PayPal accounts drained

Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward

This is why I prefer open source (VNC)

No, I'm not your average fanboy who is now going to whine (without bread) how perfect the whole thing is.

The culprit is commercial interests. Of course TV wouldn't admit if they've been hacked; it would be bad publicity which could cost them money. So... And this isn't something reserved for TV, its the same with most commercial software (companies) out there. As such: when it comes to issues as these I'll take OSS any time.

I have to be honest: I'm biased because I dislike the TV usage policy. Its free for non-commercial use but companies have to pay dearly. So what happens? Customers could more or less "force" you into using TV because that's what they like, some may even not understand why you refuse because they overlook the fact that TV is not free.

And there's more. VNC isn't depending on anything but the users own knowledge. I don't need a remote (3rd party) server which needs to have access. Granted: using VNC can be more difficult because you'll need IP addresses and such, but there is a way to overcome all that: the listening viewer.

My customers have VNC server installed (not active all the time) and it's even shielded by their firewall. When I need to connect to them I ask them to "attach listening viewer", iow: connect their server to my client. Sure, it's harder to set up (I needed to add DNS names and such) but also more secure.

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