For Mac-centric sysadmins in a Windows-flavored world, there are a few essential tools: patience, humility, and RDC. Microsoft's Remote Desktop Connection client is the easiest way for anyone on OS X to manage Windows servers near and far, and the truth is it works pretty well -- not perfectly, but capably. You can trade clipboard contents, print to your Mac-connected printers, and even share your Mac's local hard drives back to the Windows host for speedy file transfers. The last full release of RDC, however, was 1.0.3 back in 2004 -- sans Universal Binary, doesn't play well with Vista, and generally lacks pizazz.

A shiny new version 2 of RDC, rewritten from the ground up as an Intel-native app, has been in beta for months now, and it shows great promise; it's got full compatibility with the latest rev of the RD protocol, and it's downright snappy. One problem though: the beta officially expired today (March 31), and on each launch users are being prompted with the download dialog above (good luck downloading the "Lastest Version"). There isn't a new build yet, according to the Mac BU, and it's safe to keep using this beta; the nagging is annoying but not functionally problematic, and the team is working to quickly deliver a final edition.

Meanwhile, if you're being driven batty by the repeated and futile update dialogs, check out my favorite RDC stand-in: CoRD, the Mac OS X version of the open-source rdp tool. It may not have all the bells and whistles of the official tool (no clipboard sharingclipboard sharing, print/disk forwarding just released in the 0.5 beta), but for managing a handful of simultaneous sessions to a bunch of servers, it's fast and fabulous.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

Microsoft promised us some goodies this week, and they just delivered on that promise. The long awaited (at least by me) Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac 2.0 (Beta) is now available for download. This is a beta, but in my limited testing it is much, much faster (as one might expect). New in this Beta, which expires on March 31, 2008 are:

• Universal Binary (hurrah!)
• Works with Vista, and used the new Remote Desktop protocol
• Multiple session support (this is a big deal, though I can't actually figure out how to connect to more than one machine at a time)
• Better printer support, better UI

Overall, this looks to be a solid update to Microsoft's free Windows Remote Desktop Mac client.

In the comments to our recent post on Switching Mom to Mac, reader Hervé Sainct pointed us to this hint on macOSXhints on making remote tech support as easy as possible for the recipient. Basically it centers on a neat little program Schnitz Remote, which is basically a graphical wrapper around the open-source VNC server Vine. To use Schnitz Remote you need to get it installed on the remote machine, and then start up the VNC client Chicken of the VNC and set it to listen on your machine. The person requesting help just needs to type your IP (or domain) into the window on Schnitz Remote and it'll automatically connect to your listening CotVN and allow you to take over their computer. The hint on macOSXhints takes this to the next level by using an AppleScript to fill in the IP, so the remote user doesn't have to do anything but double-click an email attachment. If you regularly have to do remote tech support for less tech savvy relatives, some of these suggestions may be helpful.

Robert Movin over at TidBITS has a nice little article that I expect many of us can identify with. After years of being tech support for his mother (and other family members), he got fed up trying to remotely support her aging PC and decided to take the plunge and get her a Mac. He describes the how he set it up for her, including using VNC to allow him to remotely control it (I'm not sure why he installed OSXvnc when OS X has a built in VNC server, however). He also discusses some security issues like using VNC over SSH, and how to deal with her dynamic IP address.

So what are your experiences with setting up Macs for less tech savvy family members? Have you found any particularly good tools or techniques?

What happens when you make your Remote Desktop point to your own machine? Something like this, apparently. TUAW reader Chris Mills, who decided to give into his curiosity and give this a try, snapped this screenshot after opening a remote desktop connection to the same machine he was working on. This caused his system to more or less lock up but it made a nifty picture and offered a tesseract-ish view of his desktop. We at TUAW appreciate this kind of reader-generated ingenuity particularly because it allows us to enjoy the results without all the bother of messing with our own Macs.

Mac Managers rejoice! Apple has updated both the Client and Admin packages of Apple Remote Desktop (ARD) to version 3.1. The update is said to address "numerous issues related to overall reliability, usability and compatibility." Specifically there's now support for the new Intel-based Xserve Lights Out Management feature and other improvements noted in the areas of software distribution, asset management, remote control, remote assistance and automation. The complete change log can be viewed on Apple's site.

If you are updating from ARD 3.0 you can download the Client update here and the Admin Update here. Both require Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later and are Universal Binary.

I live something of a double life. By night I am a highly influential, and very sexy, Apple blogger/pundit but by day I am a highly skilled Windows System Administrator (though I'm still very sexy). Thanks to the confluence of a nice boss and Intel Macs I am able to do all my work on a shiny new MacBook Pro. However, there is one application that I find myself using, and cursing, on a daily basis: Microsoft's Remote Desktop Connection.

Don't get me wrong, I think it is fantastic that MS makes this program available for the Mac, but it just wasn't created for someone who needs to connect to multiple Windows machines in any way. I know that the MacBU is hard at work on a Universal version of Remote Desktop Connection, so I thought I would list my major gripes with the program to help them focus on what I want (and isn't that what they truly care about?):

1. No concurrent connections: Often, I need to log into more than one Windows machine at the same time. This is very easy to do within Windows itself, thanks to the magic of MMCs (that's Microsoft Management Consoles to you), but nearly impossible using RDC on the Mac. The client only supports one connection at a time, so you're out of luck if you are troubleshooting a cluster with 2 Windows nodes. The work around is to create a number of duplicates of the program itself, so you can have multiple copies of the app running. This is lame.
2. Disconnecting from a remote machine quits the app: This is the most annoying aspect of RDC. So, I can't connect to more than one machine at the same time, no big deal. I'll just connect to one after the other. Sadly, RDC quits the moment you disconnect from a remote machine. This means you need to relaunch the program to connect to another machine. This is stupid.

Other than those two major complaints, I am very happy with RDC and hope to see a number of improvements in the forthcoming update (No, I don't have any idea when it is coming out).

As you may know, the US online Apple Store went down briefly this morning, and returned to reveal Apple Remote Desktop 3 (RD3). As we pointed out, this is a major update with a slew of changes. Automator World is pointing to a page at Apple's site that details the Automator-specific changes to RD3. Available actions include:

• Choose remote computer (sort of a no-brainer)
• Copy items to computers (nice)
• Execute new UNIX task (again, nice)
• Restart computers
• Send text message

There's more, of course. I've already begged the finance department at my day job to let me order this. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Well I guess we know why the Apple Store was down earlier. Today, Apple introduced Remote Desktop 3, which is now a Universal Binary and includes over 50 new features that deliver better software distribution, asset management and remote assistance. Over 30 Automator actions, remote Spotlight searching of multiple Tiger machines, a Dashboard observation widget and automatically installing software on remote machines when they return online are at the top of the new feature buzz list, which includes:

• Remote Drag and Drop files and folders between local and remote computers
  
• Remote Copy and Paste for simple transfer of text and images between local and remote computers
• Persistent Task History and Task Templates to make it easy to save and replicate repetitive task
• Curtain Mode to hide the desktop of a system while it is being controlled remotely
• Application Usage and User History Reports to track software compliance and monitor the use of unauthorized applications
• Smart Computer Lists for dynamically managing systems based on specified criteria
• AES 128-bit encryption for secure communications between Apple Remote Desktop 3 and clients

Apple Remote Desktop 3 is available immediately through the Apple Store for either $299 to manage up to 10 machines, or $499 for managing an unlimited number of machines.