Apple Remote Desktop 2 Released

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."

Comments

Up-To-Date Program

[chlorophyl]

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

Re:Up-To-Date Program

[jeffehobbs]

...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

Re:Up-To-Date Program

[MoneyT]

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.

Re:Up-To-Date Program

[burns210]

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.

Dream of Administrator?

[cyfer2000]

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?

Re:Fucked by Apple

[chasingporsches]

$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.

You gotta wonder

[foidulus]

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!

Re:You gotta wonder

[foidulus]

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.

Whatever

[Microsift]

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.

Re:Whatever

[chromaphobic]

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.

What?

[abulafia]

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?

My point was...

[Microsift]

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!

Re:My point was...

[kersy]

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

Re:chicken of the vnc, x2osx , tightvnc

[metamatic]

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.

24-bit Aqua

[dad2viii]

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.