Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Short Notice: LogMeIn To Discontinue Free Access

Posted by timothy on from the how-much-friction-can-be-applied dept.

An anonymous reader writes "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." Asks reader k280: "What alternative tools are available for free, and how do they compare to LogMeIn?"

78 of 408 comments (clear)

  1. Uh? by jawtheshark · · Score: 5, Informative

    Personally, I just set up two DNS servers, and my own dyndns service (inspired on freedns.afraid.org) and I make sure the people I support have the necessary port forwards for ssh using keys. From there on, it's just an ssh tunnel away for RDP or VNC.

    Now, for a nice all-in-one-package, where you don't need to do anything yourself and don't need to prepare the target PC's, I'd say TeamViewer works perfectly fine.

    --
    Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
    1. Re:Uh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      and I make sure the people I support have the necessary port forwards for ssh using keys.

      Yea that compares to Logmein. Did you tip your fedora while you wrote that spew?

    2. Re:Uh? by jawtheshark · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Of course. For me it works. If you read further on, I mentioned the non-IT option.

      --
      Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
    3. Re:Uh? by jawtheshark · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No, but we're on slashdot. Where a nerd is still allowed to be a nerd. You can bet your ass that I'm not the only one doing exactly this.

      --
      Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
    4. Re:Uh? by jawtheshark · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's not for tech support? A cursory glance at their website told me that. Instead of calling me a fuckwit, what about just telling me why I'm wrong? That would actually be useful, for those like me who thought it's used for remote tech support.

      --
      Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
    5. Re:Uh? by Sarten-X · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Right, because I'm certainly going to set up port forwarding on my grandmother's machine, and my multiple non-server machines in my own home...

      Now, let's see... 3390 was the bedroom machine, right? or was that the kid's room?

      --
      You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
    6. Re:Uh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I have team viewer install on a few client computers. It works great for tech support. So far everything I did with Logmein I could do with TeamViewer. If Logmein has something TeamVierwer don't it was stuff I never used.

    7. Re:Uh? by jawtheshark · · Score: 3, Informative
      If you have a server ssh-accessible, you don't need any of that.

      ssh -L 3389:wifes-computer:3389 myserver.no-ip.com

      Now you have a tunnel going from localhost:3389 to the wifes-computer, going over myserver.no-ip.com. This means you point your RDP client to localhost and you magically connect.

      Clients like Reminna can do this all from the interface.

      Nothing is exposed, except for the server and only the ssh daemon. Everything is nicely encrypted. My example was for RDP, but you can do VNC too by using 5900 instead.

      --
      Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
    8. Re:Uh? by PatMouser · · Score: 2

      Umm... How about because I have a younger son who lives full time with his other parent. 850 miles away from me. And I need to be able to help him out because his other parent is not tech savvy.

    9. Re:Uh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Go back to reddit

    10. Re:Uh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You people seem to be trying pretty hard to make yourself not be able to do this, or you completely lack reading comprehension. Several posts contained both a nuts and bolts way of doing it for people with minimal but common tools, and a way to do it easier with more specific, less common tools. But if you are so determined to make yourself fail at doing something that could be written down on a single stick note or for which preexisting tools will automate and were even mentioned in the posts you're replying to, there is no helping you. For a site supposed to be for nerds that are self motivated to learn, especially when most people realize a single post won't mention every detail of a topic or every competing brand of tool , don't expect much sympathy for knocking away spoon fed information.

    11. Re:Uh? by WillyWanker · · Score: 4, Funny

      Personally I just cross the streams, align my Heisenberg compensators, and make sure my flux capacitor is online and I can tunnel into any machine using a combination of TTFN, IDK, LOL, and h(u)sh. Pretty simple.

      But, y'know, if you want to be all lazy and shit you can just use Gbridge.

    12. Re:Uh? by Sarten-X · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I think you're the one missing the reading comprehension.

      I've been an IT admin for a decade, and a software engineer for about a decade before that. I can build tunnels in my sleep. I learn a new programming language every year or so. I'm not making myself unable to do this.

      Sure, I can set up a tunnel by hand, but that's inconvenient at best. One of the benefits of LogMeIn was that it handled all of the routing for me, regardless of skill level. I don't need to have an SSH server on-site, or deal with port forwarding across disparate NAT devices, or figure out how to punch holes in a firewall that I haven't worked on in a year. I don't choose to spend my time that way.

      --
      You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
    13. Re:Uh? by dreamchaser · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'd mod you up as well if I had points today. Sadly, the days when this was a site full of resourceful DIY geeks are long gone. It's not quite as bad as reddit yet but it's getting there.

      I know a lot of people who do similar home-brew solutions. You shouldn't be getting any heat for your suggestions, especially since you even offered a suggestion that was NOT a DIY.

    14. Re:Uh? by jawtheshark · · Score: 4

      Thanks... I've been shaking my head in disbelief ever since I started reading the replies. Perhaps it's finally time to kick my slashdot habit. Thank you, and every one else who isn't painting me as a raving lunatic.

      --
      Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
    15. Re:Uh? by certain+death · · Score: 2

      HOLY JEEZUS MAN! Stop feeding the trolls would ya?

      --
      "My immediate reaction is "WTF? What kind of moron doesn't make things 64-bit safe to begin with?" Linus
    16. Re:Uh? by Sarten-X · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Funny thing is, as an admin, I've steered a few clients toward paid subscriptions to LogMeIn, specifically because their free service was so good. By using it personally, I was aware of their features and updates, without needing to spend even more time researching. That's not going to happen any more. Now when I need a remote-control system for Windows beyond basic RDP, they'll get the same examination as their competitors. By getting rid of the "leeches", they also lost a competitive advantage.

      actually learn how to do for yourself

      I've already learned how to shovel my driveway, but I still chose to buy a snowblower.

      --
      You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
    17. Re:Uh? by oatworm · · Score: 2

      RDP? SSH tunnels? Blasphemy. If you're using an SSH tunnel, all you need to do after that is enable WinRM, hit the remote cmd console, download a VNC server using BITSADMIN, and then go from there. Bonus points if you somehow manage to rope PowerShell connection and session objects into the mix.

      Seriously though, TeamViewer is fine. The point of LogMeIn was that, if you needed remote access to another user's PC but they weren't technically savvy, you could walk them through it without too much trouble. SSH tunnels and proper VPNs are certainly preferable if you're in charge of both ends of the connection, but if you're not, TeamViewer, Jump Desktop, and the like get the job done without too much fuss.

    18. Re:Uh? by l0n3s0m3phr34k · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I second TeamViewer, it's the only product I found to punch through all my former work-sites firewalls without issue. I got VNC to bring up a java window in a browser, but the connection would just time out. Once I'm inside my home network, I use VNC from there to reach the other internal systems.

    19. Re:Uh? by Spiridios · · Score: 2

      That's the problem with depending on a "free" service.

      Isn't that the most important lesson from all of this? Google cancels stuff willy-nilly (admittedly with decent notice). Other stuff disappears completely. Even paid services get acquired, merged, destroyed.

      If you rely on a free web service for personal use, you could be in for a shock. If you rely on a free web service to run a business .... I don't want to buy shares of your company.

      That said, I use gmail and Google calendar. I should know better....

      What's the answer? I suppose I should say, "do it all yourself" but that can be a tall order, especially if you need to sync mobile devices or multiple operating systems. The truth is, I don't know of an easy answer.

      I'd say "if you rely on a third-party web service with no alternatives or exit plans, then you're screwed whether you pay for it or not." Relying on a third-party email provider is pretty easy, just point your MX record at the new server, bam, you're migrated. Ok, so there's replication and actual migration, but the point is email is standard and you can pick and choose at will if one service goes away. You were making backups right? When LogMeIn, Google whatever, Facebook, etc, go belly up, get bought out, or just decide to shut off the service you like because it's not profitable, you're sunk because they are not standard.

    20. Re:Uh? by fwarren · · Score: 2

      Really. Geek Card revoked.

      I set up a group of rules like 15110, 15111, 15112, 15113 then on my laptop I use a ~/.ssh/config file with entires like

      Host HomeWife
        Hostname myhomeip.net
        Port 15111
        User honey
        Compression yes

      Then I don't have to remember. BTW I know the external IPs, internal IPs, firewall rules, etc for all my work systems at multiple locations as well as my home systems.

      --
      vi + /etc over regedit any day of the week.
    21. Re:Uh? by Jawnn · · Score: 2

      OK. Fine. Everybody, STFU already with the whining about losing something that did not, ever, cost you a dime. We agree on that, but the decision to pull the plug on such short notice is clearly a shameless attempt at squeezing bucks out of those for whom an alternative solution is not reasonably within their grasp in a few days time. In other words, this company has no integrity. I can and will work out an alternative to LogMeIn, but I will never do business with that company now, because if I did not have that wherewithal, I'd have been forced to pay up, at least until I could figure out something else, and I'd have been doubly pissed in that situation.

    22. Re:Uh? by Sarten-X · · Score: 2

      I've been an IT admin for a decade, blah blah blah, and I agree.

      I don't think there is an easy answer, either. Each decision of what to use should have a cost/benefit analysis, which includes the risk of service loss or interruption. You can avoid vulnerability by adding effort, or lower costs by taking on risk. Even for a business, some risk is fine. The cost of a service loss, amortized over the lifetime of the service, may still come out lower than the cost of using a more reliable service*.

      In your case (and mine), what are the risks of losing Google Calendar? Well, we'd have to switch to some other free calendar out there. I'd have to re-enter my few recurring appointments, but that's not so bad. To me, the cost of a failure is low enough that any mitigation attempt would cost more than just waiting until failure.

      GMail is another story. I have a significant number of emails that I don't want to lose, and the cost of moving wall of my old messages to another server would be quite high if GMail ended its service tomorrow. To lower that cost, I forward important messages to a personal in-house server that's configured to only accept mail from GMail. That mitigation effort cost far less than a service loss, and now such a loss is less damaging itself.

      * Off-topic, that reminds me of the incentive to use COTS hardware in high-end systems. It's cheaper to replace a cheap part than to get a rock-solid custom piece

      --
      You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
    23. Re:Uh? by BLKMGK · · Score: 2

      I just switched to TeamViewer, thankfully they too have an IOS application and are almost as easy to use as LogMeIn was - time will tell just how well it works when I'm on travel and want to access my home machines. I have in the past turned MANY people on to LogMeIn so that they may help out family members who's computers need occasional maintenance and who aren't local, at least one or two of them recommended the product to their companies for remote access on a paying basis. That will obviously no longer be the case moving forward and I think that this is a huge mistake by LogMeIn. They obviously believe that many people are using their service so heavily they cannot switch - surprise that's NOT the case as I just easily switched. I still like the product LogMeIn provided but this really felt like a betrayal and with the short notice I'm having to scramble a bit and i'm sure many others are even worse off. Why would I trust this company in the future after this? what's to stop them from taking my money and then deciding to bump prices like my cable company? No thanks, plenty of other solutions and I'm happy that this time I'm not rolling my own because sure as heck there's no way to try and get friend's who support their parents to do that. I tried using UltraVNC once upon a time for this and it was a disaster! At least Ultra is cross platform but right now I carry an IOS device and I've found no good client for that.

      --
      Build it, Drive it, Improve it! Hybridz.org
    24. Re:Uh? by router · · Score: 3, Funny

      Yeah I dunno man, I have pretty much switched to reddit. Their comment sorting makes most of the losers disappear, or something. /. used to cater to people like you, who make excellent posts. Now you are yelled at by trolls. I don't understand it. You even posted the command for fscks sake!

      Don't go too far, some of us still appreciate informed posts.

      andy

  2. Chrome Remote Desktop by essbase_nerd · · Score: 5, Informative

    Chrome Remote Desktop doesn't have all the bells and whistles that LogMeIn has, but it's simple and works well.

    1. Re:Chrome Remote Desktop by The+MAZZTer · · Score: 3, Informative

      Only thing it's missing, for me, is an Android client app, and that is coming. Until then TeamViewer works pretty good.

    2. Re:Chrome Remote Desktop by lesincompetent · · Score: 2

      Make that very good!

    3. Re:Chrome Remote Desktop by mrbene · · Score: 5, Informative

      Important note - Chrome Remote Desktop works by default as a screen scraper, so that anyone physically near the computer you've remotely logged in to can see what you're doing on the monitor. However, there's a simple registry key that you can add to enable "curtain" mode, which spins up an instance of Remote Desktop and connects to that, instead.

      More information here.

    4. Re:Chrome Remote Desktop by Tx · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I use logmein for the same purpose, and I must say I might have considered signing up for pro, but the zero-notice cancellation of the free account has left a major bad taste in my mouth. It's a pretty blatant attempt to rush people into signing up for the paid program, because hey, give people a month's notice to evaluate alternatives and the might find something else they like. For that reason, there is zero chance I'll sign up for logmein pro.

      --
      Oh no... it's the future.
    5. Re:Chrome Remote Desktop by zugmeister · · Score: 4, Informative

      I received that happy email myself this morning and am considerably less than pleased. However, at the risk of not conforming to a potential lynch mob mentality, it would appear they're giving me 6 months of pro service on my existing account before they turn it off. This is plenty of time to make a change.

      That they would make a major change like that which invalidates a previously purchased product, in my case an excellent $130 program called Ignition, with no recourse to continue other than paying them more money, tells me all I need to know about how LMI views their subscribers.

      Baaaa!

    6. Re:Chrome Remote Desktop by chispito · · Score: 2

      I will be sure to tell the auditors that when they ask how the cleaning staff found out the contents of our quarterly report a week before it was released.

      "But I turned off the monitor before I left the buliding! And sprinkled lemon juice on my keyboard! There is NO WAY that anybody could have intercepted that information."

      If you can afford a cleaning staff you can afford to pay for VPN. I was thinking of the home or home office.

      --
      The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
  3. alternatives by fluffythdestroy · · Score: 5, Informative

    Although join.me is by logmein this one seems to be free so try to use join.me instead of a connection pc 2 pc is what your looking for. works great for troubleshooting a complete noob that messed is pc up and calls you at midnight to fix his pc.

    Theres also teamviewer that works in a similar way like join.me and logmein. You can remotely log in a pc and work on it. Skype also has a share screen function so you might look at that as well

    --
    PC Gaming enthousiast that gives comments, opinions and reviews on Games. I'm just having fun with games while doing let
    1. Re:alternatives by edwartr · · Score: 2

      The biggest problem with Join.Me is that you have to have someone on the remote system to allow you mouse control. This is fine if you are doing 'live' remote desktop tech support or having an online meeting; but if you need to remotely get on a system say at night to do maintenance, repair, etc. then you are out of luck. Also, Join.Me has some problems with multiple monitors, UAC warnings, and some commands. I use Join.Me all the time to help my clients but you have to be aware of its limitations. For example, with Join.Me, you do not even see the UAC warnings; but it will 'drop' your control until someone on the remote system clicks OK on the warning. The limited uses is solved by simply not having an account or not logging in to it - just go to join.me, go to APPS, then download the windows application, install and then click on SHARE. Then give the person remoting in the 9 digit number and wait for them to join. Then wait for them to click on the REQUEST MOUSE CONTROL and click to allow and you're good to go - just don't leave if they do anything to get a UAC pop-up or if you have more than one monitor. Join.Me has been nice legally as they state that you can use it free (limited number of people can connect in at the same time) for personal or commercial use which most free apps are not free for any business use.

    2. Re:alternatives by kcbnac · · Score: 3, Informative

      You're describing UltraVNC Single Click: http://www.uvnc.com/products/u...

  4. Translation... by Hohlraum · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Logmein loses 99% of their user base. :)

    1. Re:Translation... by N1AK · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And doesn't care because they weren't paying users ;)

    2. Re:Translation... by ericloewe · · Score: 2

      They sure won't be upgrading to paid customers now, though. Not after being cut off within a day.

    3. Re:Translation... by gigaherz · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Assuming that number wasn't bullshit, that means even if just 1% of the free user base becomes paying customers, they would have doubled their paying user base.

    4. Re:Translation... by PraiseBob · · Score: 3, Insightful

      One distinction here- there are stopping the free version, and giving current users a 6 month trial period of the pro version.

    5. Re:Translation... by rvw · · Score: 2

      They sure won't be upgrading to paid customers now, though. Not after being cut off within a day.

      They sure didn't upgrade to paid accounts in the past, though. Not after using those services for years.

    6. Re:Translation... by ericloewe · · Score: 2

      Huh, TFS conveniently left that out. In that case, I can't really understand a reaction more extreme than "D'oh!", since it gives people more than enough time to plan ahead.

  5. Why is it so surprising? Also, $1 million? by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

    Why is it surprising that a company might want to do better than "quite well" when it sees the opportunity?

    Also:

    what is ultimately a straightforward service that could be duplicated for well under $1 million

    Go on then. Or was that number just pulled out of someone's behind?

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    1. Re:Why is it so surprising? Also, $1 million? by MrSome · · Score: 2

      That's half a dozen. Keep going. You said dozens, that indicates at least 24. :-)

  6. Re:Teamviewer by v1 · · Score: 5, Informative

    TeamViewer recently pushed an "update" that imposes a fairly short time limit on the free connections. This was not mentioned to the users prior to running the update. It also "upgraded your account" online so you can no longer run the older unlimited version of teamviewer.

    That, combined with the obsession about not wanting you to install your licensed copy on more than one support computer (despite being totally online and trivially blocked from simultaneous instances) lead me to drop my support for them as well. We even bought a license, but having to bump someone from the machine it's registered on just to remote into someone else here is a hassle. Just another example of making users "regret upgrading". That's a horrible business model.

    There really isn't any good free 3rd party alternative out there that I've seen. I can map ports and even have set up remote check-ins to manage changing IP addresses, but being able to automatically traverse routers (uPNP) I haven't managed to replicate yet. The easiest thing for me at this point, since I run mac, is to simply use FaceTime's screen sharing, which provides the auto check-in for dynamic IPs and also does a good job of getting in through routers. The last os upgrade was free even, which makes it a bit cheaper than LogMeIn or TeamViewer ;)

    --
    I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
  7. Pity, was useful by jratcliffe · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Used it to control my HTPC from my iPad. I think their pricing is just a wee bit too high, though. If it were, say, $25 a year (rather than $50), I'd probably say that it was worth it to avoid having to find an alternative. As it is, I'll find something else.

  8. Re:Teamviewer by wyr_taliesin · · Score: 2

    Teamviewer is fine. My biggest gripe is that you can use the free option, or pay £440 for the business version. That's silly pricing for a small business that might use it less than once a month - they need a £50 pricing option as well.

  9. I ditched LogMeIn a couple of years ago by ebbe11 · · Score: 4, Informative

    And have been using NeoRouter Free ever since.

    --

    My opinion? See above.
    1. Re:I ditched LogMeIn a couple of years ago by egcagrac0 · · Score: 2

      A "networking VPN"? As opposed to some other VPN

      Sure beats a notworking VPN!

  10. Similar functionality to what? by MrNemesis · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Perhaps this is just reinforcing my "you're an IT dinosaur, old man!" but for the benefit of us ignoramuses, might it be possible for the submitter or, god forbid, the editors to say what "log me in" actually does?

    --
    Moderation Total: -1 Troll, +3 Goat
    1. Re:Similar functionality to what? by Big+Hairy+Ian · · Score: 2

      Circumvents IT Security by letting people configure a remote desktop connection.

      --

      Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.

    2. Re:Similar functionality to what? by N1AK · · Score: 2

      Something so simple that some 'totally credible' anonymous user thinks it can be recreated for less than $1,000,000. Obviously we needed to know that because it's clearly accurate and/or worthy of note.

    3. Re:Similar functionality to what? by sandytaru · · Score: 5, Informative

      It allows remote login to desktop computers that are online from any other desktop computer. The free version was meant for consumers; the paid version is used by a lot of IT and tech support companies who support remote users because it's a heck of a lot easier than driving over there, and doesn't need to be on the same domain like RDP.

      --
      Occasionally living proof of the Ballmer peak.
    4. Re:Similar functionality to what? by Wookact · · Score: 2

      RDP does not need to be on the same domain, you need a routable IP address though.

    5. Re:Similar functionality to what? by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 2

      No pissing around with NAT and firewalls, for a start.

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  11. Logmein is a security threat in many hands by damn_registrars · · Score: 2

    Now, I don't blame logmein themselves, as what users do on their own is beyond the company's control. However, I found that a disturbing number of people who used logmein would setup their account to connect directly to an administrator login on their windows box; hence with one often rather simple password anyone could get full access to that box from anywhere in the world. It seemed to me that it was often used to circumvent security that was set up for good reason, and in so doing created nightmare situations for unsuspecting network administrators.

    I suspect many of the people who were using it for free before won't be interested in paying for it, so having the free access go away immediately could be a very, very, good thing.

    --
    Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
  12. TeamViewer or AMMYY by Chas · · Score: 2

    Teamviewer works fairly well. But it's pricing structure is just crazy.

    There's also AMMYY Admin. It's a similar product and, if you wish to pay for it, has a more reasonable pricing structure.

    --


    Chas - The one, the only.
    THANK GOD!!!
  13. Timbuktu by bhlowe · · Score: 2

    Timbuktu is a good choice if you need something that works only on Windows NT, XP and Mac OS 6 and 7. Just kidding. I I use Team Viewer and I'm happy. Agree the pricing model makes me unlikely to confess to using it for any commercial purpose.

  14. Re:This sucks by gigaherz · · Score: 3, Informative

    Firewall is not the problem, NAT is.

  15. Entitlement by nicholasjay · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's so typical. Someone offers a service/product for free. People use it and like it. They keep using it. Then the service/product gets changed/removed/etc and everyone yells at the owner about how they feel shafted instead of *thanking* the owner for providing such a useful service for free for so long.

    Everyone feels entitled to get whatever they want for free.

    1. Re:Entitlement by FireFury03 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's so typical. Someone offers a service/product for free. People use it and like it. They keep using it. Then the service/product gets changed/removed/etc and everyone yells at the owner about how they feel shafted instead of *thanking* the owner for providing such a useful service for free for so long.

      Everyone feels entitled to get whatever they want for free.

      No one is entitled to anything above and beyond what the contract says - no contract, no entitlement.

      *However*, in just the same way as a customer might be peeved when a supplier sticks rigidly to the contract terms instead of offering some good-will flexibility, a customer of a free service is going to be a bit peeved by this kind of no-notice change to the service... And peeved customers aren't the kind of people to continue to be customers, which is important where you're withdrawing the free service in the hope that many of your "free" customers will move to the paid service - if you pissed them off then they probably won't.

      I'll give you a real world example: I have a bunch of servers in datacentres run by Host-It. They are over-priced, but we've been happy with their customer service so haven't switched to a cheaper datacentre. We pay for 12 months of hosting up-front, and about a month after we paid for one of our servers, the server failed and we decided to retire it. Coincidentally, the contract was up for renewal for another of our servers at the same time, so we asked them to transfer the remaining 11 months on the contract for the failed server over to that server. Seemed pretty fair enough to us. They flatly refused - sure, the contract doesn't say they have to do that, but it would seem to be a reasonable thing to do from a good-will perspective. So we had to pay for 11 months of hosting for a server that died (so they haven't actually been hosting it) because they refused to be reasonable and instead stuck rigidly to the contract terms. Now I'm not saying they were in the wrong - far from it, legally speaking they were dead in the right, but their lack of good will has ensured all future servers we commission will be hosted elsewhere.

      --
      http://blog.nexusuk.org
    2. Re:Entitlement by RJFerret · · Score: 2

      Expectations, not entitlement.

      If you provide a service and lead people to believe they'll be able to use it, then yes, they'll be upset if you pull it out from under them (free or not, the free is irrelevant). That's not entitlement, that's having been deceived.

      If you provide a service and indicate at some point of time it'll be discontinued/rates raised, informed folks will expect it and be fine. Ignorant folks will be upset initially.

      If I'm a paying customer, who is aware you have treated users of your free service to no notice, I expect you'll treat me the same way at some point, and will invest in finding another supplier, because a contract limiting your bad behavior requires going after you when you breach it.

      Past behavior is the best indicator of future actions and values.

  16. Re:Farewell logmein by houstonbofh · · Score: 4, Interesting

    And I'm sure that Logmein will be crying that you left.

    I use several free services and never pay for them. However, I also recommend them to clients, and often they do pay for them. I am responsible for quite a few paid no-ip subscriptions, and I personally never pay. I was responsible for a few paid dyn dns subscriptions back in the day when they were free. Now I use and recommend no-ip. See how that works?

  17. Re:It's a plus. by houstonbofh · · Score: 2

    All of these type services should do this, it's one way scammers get access to clueless user's computers.

    "This is Microsoft Support. Your computer has virus, and we need to access it. Please log into this site with this ID."

    Total BS.

    Scammers use the Internet too! Ban it! Please...

  18. Want to send a message? Cancel your account. by Nuroman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There is no automatic method of cancelling your account. You have to call the tech support line at https://secure.logmein.com/con... for your locale. All you can do on the site is delete the computers on your account. As of this post, I cannot get through to the US & Canada line, just getting a busy signal. Apparently I'm not the only one following this route. As has been mentioned in other posts there are plenty of free options out there capable of the same features that a free LogMeIn account was capable of doing.

  19. Logmein is the successor of PC Anywhere by tomer · · Score: 2

    Back in the past PC Anywhere was the first choice for every remote technician. Than came similar software such as Remotely Anywhere that are easier to use and can doesn't require software to be installed in order to remote control (they have used a static HTML image map in addition to their Java Applet client). Later, services such as Microsoft Remote Assistant, Skype screen sharing (read only), logmein and TeamViewer started to provide easy access to remote machines, sometimes by proxing requests in order to make it just work without configuring port forwarding on the two sides or manually submitting IP addresses. I've not used logmein too much, because I prefer not to work remotely on Windows computers or Windows at all, but I am not sure if the sunset on logmein free service is bad after all. Soon we will see different products and better technologies (HTML5 WebRTC anyone?), and I've not seen too much innovation in logmein in the recent years. The usage of new technologies will advance us more to the moment we could host a service similar to logmein on our own servers and provide similar service to our own or to technicians in our area.

    1. Re:Logmein is the successor of PC Anywhere by Lumpy · · Score: 3, Insightful

      VNC has been around for quite a while I remember using the AT&T Labs version back in 1999.

      Log Me in was simply a repackaged VNC with aded wrapper software and service.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  20. Good by Karmashock · · Score: 2

    Too many use these systems and getting kicked out into the cold should remind the community that we can and should develop our own VPN solutions free of corporate constraints.

    --
    I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
    1. Re:Good by Karmashock · · Score: 2

      We could do that as well.

      Its really not that complicated.

      Mostly what Logmein does is provide instant DDNS services.

      All you have to do is build DDNS into your VNC server and you have the same thing. It is not complicated and it would be just about as simple as Logmein, for free, and beyond the control of rapacious companies trying to milk small time users of unreasonable fees.

      --
      I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
  21. Re:Teamviewer by v1 · · Score: 2, Informative

    that DOES NOT WORK. After you launch the latest version, it connects online and "upgrades" your account. Once upgraded, if you try to launch an older version of teamviewer and sign in with your account, "you can no longer use this version of teamviewer, please install the latest update".

    BS like that, that's why I left. "OK then, so if you're so into using forced online verification, why can't you let me install it on all the machines here so long as I'm only USING it on one at a time?" They refused to answer that. "Money" of course was the correct answer. I can see pulling a stunt like that for the free users, but we paid for a license and they still gave us the shaft. Bad move to do that to a paying customer.

    For now I think you're "safe" as long as you keep the old app, and never login (anywhere) with version 9 and allow it to "upgrade" your account. They don't appear to have been planning to do this in 8, so it doesn't force you to upgrade. I'm sure that's been "fixed" in the latest version.

    MY account on the other hand, is ruined, sorry to say. I don't think you can make an earlier version account with 8 anymore either. (I should test that)

    --
    I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
  22. Re:Well ... by NibbleG · · Score: 2

    It did, JewTheShark killed a guy...

  23. Re:Well ... by NibbleG · · Score: 4, Informative

    Honestly, I didn't mean Jew the shark... that was an honest typo...

  24. Tell them how you feel, LogMeIn can we talk? by NASstorageNinja · · Score: 2

    Customers of products regardless if they are "free" (nothing is free, your mother should of told you that) or not should let companies know when they have made poor choices and quit being Lemmings! The Internet and cellphones have given the power/control and surveillance hungry zealots a lot but that cuts BOTH ways when it comes to information. If you don't like what they are doing send them a "love" letter, cancel your account, write them a few "nice" reviews, install a competing product ( I am all for TeamViewer at https://www.teamviewer.com/ for ease of use and cross platform support with features for novices to geeks and nerds) or roll your own. If you bought their app give it one star and write a review why they get 1 star. I understand they need to make a profit that said "Oops you have a week to purchase or find someone else" is just bad PR period. At least SugarSync gave a little more warning when they got rid of "free" than LogMeIn has. You can stand up for yourself and others and not be a jerk.

  25. Use opens source by sdinfoserv · · Score: 2

    I setup an ssh linux server and run port forwarding with putty and remote desktop over an ssh tunnel. Easy, no cost and I've done this for years. http://www.dslreports.com/faq/...

  26. Join.me is made by the same folks... by kcbnac · · Score: 2

    ...and will likely suffer the same fate.

  27. NoMachine for free remote access by chrisdoen · · Score: 2

    The only company offering completely free remote access is NoMachine. https://www.nomachine.com/ I am surprised no one has mentioned it.

  28. xkcd did it by richlv · · Score: 4, Funny

    well. i know i should not. but it just seems to repeat again and again, and this seems so relevant...

    http://xkcd.com/1150/

    --
    Rich
  29. Re:Back to my mac? by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ... Except for the two Apple computers.

    --
    Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/