24 Hours of Leopard: iChat screen sharing

Feature: iChat screen sharing

How It Works: Hello, Mom? Yes, I know, I meant to call yesterd-- what? You've got a little picture that looks like a little Jack O'Lantern sitting on your desktop? Gosh, well, that is weird. Mind if I take a look?

Yes, I said "take a look" -- now that we're both running Leopard, we can share our screens in a jiffy, straight from an iChat. Uh, iChat? Yes, the icon that looks like a word ballo-- yes, that one. If I start a screen sharing session, we can share control of the mouse and keyboard... it even starts an audio chat automatically to make it easier to... yes, that's why it's all echo-y now. Well, I'll just mute it and we'll use the phone, OK?

See, there, that icon does look like a pumpkin... well, if you let the grandkids download stuff... mmm hmm. Yep. OK. Love you too.

Who Will Use It: Anyone with a parent, spouse, cousin, co-worker or random acquaintance who has ever needed help using a Mac, and particularly when the recipient of that help has a tendency to describe UI features as "the thing with the glowy bit" or "not that button, the other button." Also, anyone who collaborates on documents or projects and needs a colleague's instant signoff.

See all of our 24 Hours of Leopard posts here.

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Feature: iChat screen sharingHow It Works: Hello, Mom? Yes, I know, I meant to call yesterd-- what? You've got a little picture that looks...

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Jared

Both people have to have Leopard for the feature to work. Won't work with Tiger :(

October 27 2007 at 9:37 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Deborah McLaughlin

Do both computers have to be running Leopard? In other words, can I use my Leopard computer to look at the screen of my parents' Tiger computer?

October 27 2007 at 2:30 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Is there a camera for the mini that can take advantage of this feature?

I can't seem to find the non-built-in iSight new

Thanks

October 26 2007 at 3:39 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

jrodliebs

Yeah but you gotta admit that for ease of use and casual instances, this is a pretty cool addition

October 26 2007 at 1:16 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Geoff Graham

This seems great for biz users. Am I right in understanding that I can allow someone else to see a spreadsheet/charts/reports that I am working on?

October 26 2007 at 8:50 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Rob

Hmm. You really need to trust the person with whom you are doing the screen sharing. e.g. I do not know whether I would want to give control of my desktop / Mac to a casual "friend" while I am looking at his or her Desktop / Mac.

Furthermore, unless you are a .Mac subscriber, all of the communications are UNENCRYPTED. I would not want to use this feature if I was helping someone fill out their tax returns etc.

I think using the free SSH/VNC or pricey Apple Remote Desktop solutions are preferable. Both use encryption and do not allow the other person to take over your desktop.

October 26 2007 at 8:28 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Sasha S.

I have tried this and it works great, however the biggest problem with iChat remains - inability to go through firewalls.

Compared to the nightmare of configuring ADSL or cable modem via phone - support for typical problems with "parent, spouse, cousin, co-worker or random acquaintance" are trivial

Apple has not solved the most pressing problem here!

October 26 2007 at 5:58 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Sam

do you need to be a member of .mac for this feature?

October 26 2007 at 3:22 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Jamie Parsons

WOOOAAAHHH I HAVE LEOPARD!
It has just arrived from tnt uk

:D

October 26 2007 at 3:08 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply