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Apple Remote Desktop 2 Released

Posted by pudge on from the neato dept.

chasingporsches writes "Today Apple released Apple Remote Desktop 2, a major upgrade of their network management software. New features include new software management support, and VNC support, which allows you to control and view any VNC-enabled Mac, Windows, or UNIX-based machine. Unlimited client price is $499, 10-client $299. It's not available as a free upgrade, but you can get a discounted price if you purchased the previous version today or later."

26 of 69 comments (clear)

  1. Up-To-Date Program by chlorophyl · · Score: 5, Informative
    For those of you who have or will purchase version 1.2 (version 2.0 won't ship till July) - you can get the new version for $19.95 by using these forms.

    Up-To-Date 10 Client
    Up-To-Date Unlimited Client

    1. Re:Up-To-Date Program by jeffehobbs · · Score: 4, Insightful

      ...which is kind of bullshit for existing owners, because oddly enough I had purchased it before today and there's no even slightly discounted upgrade path whatsoever. It looks like I have to fork out $500 again, which seems to be a reoccurring theme from the New Apple.

      Even $50-100 off for existing owners would have been a nice bone to throw.

      Boo Apple thumbs down hiss boo.

      ~jeff

    2. Re:Up-To-Date Program by chlorophyl · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Yes I agree it's kind of odd for an "up-to-date" program. For the OS, you can usually qualify for the up-to-date if you purchased a version before the new one was released. But essentially with this, you are only qualified if you buy the old version afterwards.

      Hopefully this isn't a sign of "up-to-date" programs to come, especially with Tiger on the horizon.

    3. Re:Up-To-Date Program by MoneyT · · Score: 4, Insightful

      How insightful. Blame the customer for being poorly informed.

      Yes, I will. If people are going to buy a product they need to be well informed about that product, including any planned or upcoming releases. Be intelligent and take responsibility for your decisions. It's not like it was a secret that new stuff was due.

      Your statement would make sense if this was the first time Apple did this sort of thing.

      Actualy, the more it happens, the more it makes sense that you should be paying attention to product cycles.

      I used to have to monitor the spy sites who would watch the plastic production facilities for discontinuing work on current products to know there was a new one on the way from Apple.

      Or, you could realize that Apple has a ~6 month product release cycle and not buy new machines without checking up on when the next one's are due.

      Another example is their Operating System releases. No direct upgrade path from Jaguar to Panther, and the same looks to be true from Panther to Tiger.

      WTF?

      Oh sure, every year or two let's sink another $120+ USD into a new OS that isn't more then a glorified SP with a few goodies thrown in to make me giggle.

      I see you've subscribed to redhat.

      --
      T Money
      World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
    4. Re:Up-To-Date Program by sakusha · · Score: 2, Informative

      I suppose you were even more pissed off to discover that ARD 1.2 Client was rolled into MacOS X 10.3 for free.

    5. Re:Up-To-Date Program by burns210 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It isn't like version you already bought won't work... You bought this software knowning its abilities and decided to pay the money for it. Would it have been nice for Apple to have given you a discount? Yes, absolutely, just about any discount is 'nice'... Do you deserve to bitch and moan because you no longer have the latest ang greatest? No.

    6. Re:Up-To-Date Program by RevAaron · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Then keep on using your old versions. I know folks still using 10.1 and 10.2. I'd certainly upgrade to 10.2, but 10.3... If it's just a glorified SP, then skip it. No one is making you buy a new OS- nor are they making you upgrade your ARD. If the old one works... USE IT! It has nothing to do with being poorly informed. Since when has Apple had evil applications that expired when a new version came out, forcing you to upgrade whether or not you want to or have the money, why would you assume they would start with that policy now?

      --

      Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad
  2. Dream of Administrator? by cyfer2000 · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Apple Remote Desktop lets you execute UNIX shell scripts or commands on any number of your client systems at once.

    Is this a dream or nightmare of an administrator?

    --
    There is a spark in every single flame bait point.
  3. Re:Fucked by Apple by chasingporsches · · Score: 4, Interesting

    $500 is a small price to pay for a software product that works as well as it does. if you haven't used remote desktop, it might seem like a steep price to pay. but if i had a number of machines to manage, $500 would save a lot of money in IT costs by controlling all of them from one computer. Remote Desktop isn't JUST VNC. also, this isn't aimed for consumers, it's aimed for businesses and education.

  4. You gotta wonder by foidulus · · Score: 4, Interesting

    what else Mr. Jobs is planning to reveal at the WWDC. We already got a few updates(G5 speed bump, upgrade to the remote control desktop). Besides Tiger, what else is there? New displays, while interesting, aren't really that groundbreaking(though I could be wrong), a G5 iMac? Probably not all that interesting for developers.
    There really isn't a whole lot of chance that there will be a G5 powerbook, so could Steve be holding back on something really groundbreaking?
    Lets use this post for pointless speculation!

    1. Re:You gotta wonder by foidulus · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Well, a new XCode is rumored to be part of Tiger. At think secret they have a rumor that XCode 1.5 has been seeded. You can download version 1.2, I haven't yet(because I am happy with it's C support, and I use Eclipse for Java) from Apple for free, I'm not really sure of what the extra features are.
      I haven't messed around with the distributed build and fix and continue features of XCode(which seem to be the most interesting), but after I get my G5(currently only have an iBook :( ) I think I will try playing with those.
      But yeah, for the time being you are probably better off running Eclipse versus XCode for Java. While XCode "works" under Java(and does automatically set the look and feel to be Aqua), there aren't that many features.

    2. Re:You gotta wonder by commodoresloat · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Don't forget AirTunes/Airport Express. My pointless speculation is that the next generation iPod will have WiFi so it functions as (among other things) a remote control for iTunes on your G5 in the other room with the 250-gig music library ....

  5. Whatever by Microsift · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Let's compare updates

    Windows 95 -> Windows 98 -> Win ME-> Win XP

    OSX 10.0 -> OSX 10.1 -> OSX 10.2 -> OSX 10.3

    Now I can't imagine why anyone would have "upgraded" to Win ME, but I'll put my 10.1 -> 10.2 upgrade up against that.

    Windows charges for updates to its systems as well, the small # of features added in each update make it not worth the cost.

    Mac OS X updates typically offer a compelling list of added features and improved system speed.

    The OSX full price is comparable to the Windows upgrade price $129 vs. $99. People with 2-5 Macs can buy a Family Plan license for $179.

    What compelling feature was added to Win ME that made you want to upgrade from Win 98.

    Also, I can sell my old system software on EBay, since I am not upgrading, an upgrading windows user could not.

    --
    My other sig is extremely clever...
    1. Re:Whatever by chromaphobic · · Score: 5, Informative

      If 10.0 had been release in 1995, this might be a valid comparison. But back in 1995 the Mac was still on System 7.5, so if you want a valid weighing of the cost to keep a system up-to-date you need to start counting a bit earlier than OS X.

      Try: (leaving out free updates)
      7.5 - 8.0 - 8.5 - 9.0 - 10.0 - 10.2 - 10.3
      versus:
      95 - 98 - ME - XP

      Assuming upgrade prices (and assuming I'm remembering prices correctly,) thats:
      99 + 99 + 99 + 99 + 129 + 129 + 129 = 783
      versus:
      99 + 99 + 99 + 99 = 396

      Which means, to keep the Mac OS up-to-date has been nearly twice as expensive (assuming you never got any upgrades "free" with a new system purchase) over the last (almost) ten years.

      I love my Mac, so I'd MUCH rather have those ten years of Mac Operating Systems than Windows (yes, even System 7.5!) but that doesn't change the fact that it IS more expensive to keep a Mac up-to-date.

  6. What? by abulafia · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There are lots of tools that provide this sort of thing for a Unix box, both free and commercial. Hell, rolling your own with expect and ssh is simple; I've done it several times.
    Why would a pretty GUI on top of this sort of thing be a nightmare?

    --
    I forget what 8 was for.
    1. Re:What? by abulafia · · Score: 2, Informative
      Any idea how many or which ports/services you need to have open on a remote UNIX (i.e., Solaris) client to run, say a shell script this way?

      If you are referring to "using VNC" when you say "this way", you need 5900+N open, where N is the VNC server you're running, open to run it natively.

      Alternately you can tunnel it over, for instance, ssh, and then you only need 22 open.

      To be really sneaky, you can tunnel SSH over DNS, in which case you need 53/UDP open. (PPT slides: http://www.doxpara.com/bo2004.ppt).

      Verdict: If you have an open port, you can run whatever you like to it.

      --
      I forget what 8 was for.
  7. chicken of the vnc, x2osx , tightvnc by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'm sure someone can tell me...
    whats wrong with vnc programs like osxvnc exactly? I've only ever used them on a lan myself but i've even shared mouse & keyboard using X2OSX (like x2x or x2vnc but you've guessed it.. ) And certainly we've had a mac around that people have VNC'd into before just using tightvnc or whatever from their linux or windows boxen.

    theres probably something... i'd just like to know what the feature is you guys are paying for? ...its not that remote shellscript thing is it because guys... err...

    1. Re:chicken of the vnc, x2osx , tightvnc by metamatic · · Score: 3, Informative

      What's wrong with VNC?

      Nothing, except that it's slower than a dead snail in treacle on a cold day. Those 24-bit Aqua bitmaps don't compress well.

      --
      GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
    2. Re:chicken of the vnc, x2osx , tightvnc by bursch-X · · Score: 2, Informative

      This is wrong:

      They don't make use of Rendezvous, so it get's a big pain in the ass if your clients use DHCP on the LAN.

      And Remote Desktop does much more than VNC. You can send files, the admin can display his/her screen on several other people's screens (great for teaching), look at several remote screens at the same time, force reboot machines, put remote machines to sleep, wake machines up from sleep, etc.

      --
      There are two rules for success:
      1. Never tell everything you know.
  8. My point was... by Microsift · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What do you get upgrading from 95 to 98?
    What do you get upgrading from 98 to ME (I think you lost stuff here)

    Only the XP upgrade was truly compelling, but I know people who bought every one!

    --
    My other sig is extremely clever...
    1. Re:My point was... by linuxpng · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Well, I've bought the upgrades. One thing that's a little different. There is alot of new software out there (games come to mind) that won't work unless you have like 10.2.8 or something, some even 10.3.

      I think my point is that for at least 5-6 years game designers and other software companies made sure their software worked on windows 95. What my gripe is, is that there are apparently things missing from each osx (vertex shaders for ati cards) that are missing that get added in a later release.

      It seems you need to buy the last release of osx in order to run some new software you may buy, which just seems kind of nuts. In addition, when was the last 10.1 security update?

    2. Re:My point was... by prockcore · · Score: 2, Insightful

      What do you get upgrading from 98 to ME (I think you lost stuff here)

      While ME was a piece of crap, it did add some things that didn't get added to 2000 like Zip folders.

      At least MS doesn't sell software that requires XP (anything that requires XP comes with XP). Apple routinely abandons old OSes and sells software that only works with the very latest OS.

    3. Re:My point was... by kersy · · Score: 3, Insightful

      While Microsoft might not abandon old OSes, other vendors are. The latest version of Adobe Premiere, for example, requires Windows XP.

  9. SQL Question by breadiu · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I work for an orginaztion that is trying to implement an asset management system, and I know that Microsoft's SMS software stores its data in a SQL server. Apple says RD2 can "generate reports on data stored in the built-in SQL database." They also link to PostgreSQL. Does anyone know if it is possible to export RD2's data to a MS SQL server?

  10. 24-bit Aqua by dad2viii · · Score: 3, Informative

    The point about graphics hogging bandwidth is valid, but ARD is configurable to allow 16-bit (both 1.2 ad 2.0) and even 8-bit graphics (verified only for 1.2), too. Apple advises minimizing animation in the UI and otherwise to make the most of the link.

  11. Re:Pay attention by Bastian · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Windows '98. Windows '98SE. Windows ME.

    How are these not charging money for 'service packs'? They were about the same (less, in my opinion) level of refinement over the previous version as different versions of OS X, and cost 3 times as much.

    Just because Apple releases small point upgrades rather than gunnysacking them for a while to put together huge "Service packs" doesn't mean Apple doesn't give its users some free upgrades.

    This is really biting Apple in the ass that they are changing only the minor number on each version of OS X. I like it better, but it really does seem to be easier to keep the drones complacent if you instead change a number (or set of letters) that has no relation to anything in particular the way Microsoft, Intel, and AMD have been doing lately.