Looking for a cross-platform remote tool

Any one know of a tool that does the following:

1. Allows a PC (host) to control a Mac (client)
2. Is very easy to use by an end user (especially on the client side)
3. Is inexpensive/free
4. Has to be able to work through firewalls and other security measures you see in a home office
We are seeing more users with Macs and I’m interested in finding a tool that works through the cloud that is very easy to use by them. Everything at the shop is running Windows, but if there is a great Mac to Mac tool, I’d be interested in learning more as well.

6 thoughts on “Looking for a cross-platform remote tool”

  1. Nothing that’s going to be easy for average Joe User. In remote connection parlance, the Host is the machine being controlled and the Client is the machine connecting from the outside.

    It sounds like you’re on a support desk with a Windows box trying to do remote administration for a Mac system.

    Patrick should be able to speak to remote X connections to a Mac.

    You might try TightVNC. Grab the Unix source and compile it on the Mac, then use the Windows client to connect to it.

    If I assumed incorrectly in that you’re on a Mac and the remote machine is a Windows box, you could check to see if rdesktop is or can be installed on the Mac, then enable Remote Connections on the Windows box (it’s a checkbox in Control Panel on an XP system, you just install Terminal Server for remote management on a Windows server OS).

  2. Leopard sports VNC out of the box. If you can find a free VNC client for your WinBox you should be good to go, as long as your Mac runs Leopard.

  3. If you can get your hands on a copy of Mac OS X Server, you can also use that on the Mac. Even older versions sport VNC support out of the box. I run a Tiger server at work, and I control it via Chicken of the VNC on another Mac – for free.

  4. I’m on the Windows XP machine. The client is on a Mac running 10.x. These are Joe Users trying to do some work from home so simple is good. Most of what we help them with we can walk them through over the phone (downloading RDP client). I use Vineserver (VNC) on my Mac at home to remote into it from my PC, but I’m looking for as simple as possible. We use GoToMeeting and crossloop.com right now for the Windows to Windows connections.

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