It’s been a long time since I’ve found it necessary to use a remote desktop application, and when I did, I found then slow and the performance was poor. But that was a long time ago.
I haven’t used them with my clients for the past few years because they were technically difficult for “Joe Soap” (remember him?) to configure and use.
CrossLoop is the application that should bring me back into the remote desktop fold:
CrossLoop is a FREE secure screen sharing utility designed for people of all technical skill levels. CrossLoop extends the boundaries of traditional screen sharing by enabling non-technical users to get connected from anywhere on the Internet in seconds without changing any firewall or router settings. It only takes a few minutes to setup and no signup is required.
Best thing is, it does exactly what it says on the tin. I buzzed Alec in the Philippines this morning and we had a session up and running in about 3 minutes, including downloading the application.
CrossLoop allows two computer to connect via the “CrossLoop VIP Tunnel” which is essentially a VNC connection with 128-bit Blowfish encryption. The Guest computer can then control the mouse and keyboard of the other computer which should allow the two users to collaborate easily.
To be honest, real collaboration will only be achieved while simultaneously using a VoIP application such as Skype or Google talk. Two people controlling a mouse cursor at once is one to many.
Setting up the application is very easy, but before we get into that lets talk size. CrossLoop weighs in at a measly 963 KB and has relatively low system requirements:
Windows 98 or later
Pentium 500MHz +
128 MB RAM or greater
2 MB hard drive space
Internet Connection
(Broadband: DSL, Cable, T1)
Installation is a doddle, and the first screen that pops up is a simple two tab interface that allows you to choose between joining a session (accessing someone else’s computer) or hosting a session.
The host tab gives you a unique session id, or access code, that you give to the person you want to connect to your computer.
They input the code and hit connect. You get a two minute countdown within which your friend or client must connect or the session will be ended.
Once you’ve passed along your session id and your friend connects you’ll be asked if you want to allow the connection.
This is a no brainer – however once the “Allow” button has been pressed I kept getting this an alert thrown up by Windows Defender.
It’s not a major alert, as it just says that “Review potentially harmful software” and says that the culprit is “TightVNC” with a medium alert level.
You can safely click the “ignore” button here and work away. I just wish it wouldn’t come up every time I create a connection. But then I could also hit “Review” and stop the alert from appearing permanently.
Once connected the host tab will change to this and you can continue with what your doing.
At this point, a VoIP application (or a plain old fashioned telephone) is really necessary if your going to do any collaborative work as typing in an Instant Messenger window will just have the two of you struggling for control of the mouse.
Unless of course you work out some sort of system via IM first.
Joining a session is just simple. The host sends you the session id, a 12 number sequence, which you enter into the “Join” tab and hit connect.
The you just sit back and wait for the host to approve your connection.
I would like to see some more functionality here, but I’ll discuss that after finished with the step by step.
Once the session has been joined a window will pop up showing the hosts desktop.
You can click inside the desktop and use it pretty much as you would your own one. In the image you can see Alec’s desktop on his Windows 2000 Professional laptop.
Using Alec’s desktop was fairly responsive, however, your mileage may vary as speed is dependant on the hosts available upstream bandwidth and your download bandwidth.
We did run into one problem at this point when Alec’s laptop started throwing up a “Virtual Memory too low” warning.
I don’t blame CrossLoop for this as it is quite a low spec machine (read ancient) and he had 2 Firefox windows open, one of which had at least 15 tabs open and he was running some other applications at the same time.
Disconnecting is always just a matter of hitting the “Disconnect” button, but what happens when you hit it is perhaps the most annoying part of the entire CrossLoop experience.
Your asked to rate your session by clicking on the stars and asked “Would you use CrossLoop again?”.
This would not be an issue if you were asked just the once, but in the 5 or six session Alec and I tried this morning, I was asked every time! That’s overkill.
If you were asked only when you shut the application down it would be slightly more acceptable, but I was being asked every time I ended a session. I hadn’t even turned off the application.
There are somethings I would like to see implemented, but they would probably take CrossLoop out of the abilities of it’s target audience.
If only 1 small button could be added to allow you access advanced features were added I would be very happy. But bear in mind, this button would have to small, unobtrusive, and difficult for the “Joe Soap” to hit by accident. As it stand the configuration is perfect for everybody that’s not technically minded.
If the “advanced” button were added I would like to see the addition of a a permanent session ID, that also had username and password authentication. This would allow me to log into my computer in the office at night, without the hassle that comes with other remote desktop or VNC software. But I digress, I don’t believe CrossLoop is aimed at advanced users, they have other solutions available. CrossLoop is aimed at users like my grandmother.
CrossLoops greatest downfall is its reliance on a third party VoIP application. If CrossLoop really want to corner the market with this application the inclusion of VoIP in the application would make it unstoppable. VoIP is need for this to truly be a useful collaboration tool.
Considering the size of Google Talk it stands to reason that CrossLoop could have VoIP capability and still keep the application size below 1.5mb.
We did run into one problem this morning. I tested CrossLoop on my Win XP SP2 home edition machine, which is a Danish version of the OS. Alec’s version on Windows 2000 Professional was in English, so when I tried to type in his browser I was getting “?” whenever I typed “/”. It’s a small problem and one that I believe can be easily fixed.
All things being equal, I like this beta release of CrossLoop and can see myself using it to help my computer illiterate parents back in Ireland while sitting on my couch here in Denmark.
You can download CrossLoop from the CrossLoop website. They also have a blog so you can keep up to date with the latest happenings.
.JPG "OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA")
