Google is the company that always is releasing own version of already existing software, services or solutions (browser, office suite... the list is long). Or providing users with free1, yet alternates way to solve or do something.
The only thing is that they nearly always have to fuck something up. Google Chrome's extension called "Remote Desktop BETA" is no exception to that.
1Free as in "we are stealing all your data with this, so you're actually paying with your privacy".
I was looking for a good solution for remote controlling other computers. Mostly PCs with Windows as I'm not that far geeked to try to control any PC from for example my phone or tablet (stupidity has to have some limits, right?).
The most important factor was that once setup, I wasn't using remote controlling to often. OK. First thing I was ever using was of course many versions and releases of VNC protocol, including TigerVNC, UltraVNC and many more.
It was quite good, with the exception that it was awfully slow. And yes -- it was very unusable / unstable on networks behind NAT and had to be backed up with some advance-level configuration on switch / router level. Achievable by me, but not always possible.
TeamViewer was perfect, but since I have a legal company and I wanted to be fully legal, I had to resign from using it due to license prices beyond even a crazy maniac immagination. It is like, "I'm not going to pay half my monthly salary to be able to control one computer as often as 1-2 times per a month", right?
Finally, Chrome's extension come out. It was looking perfect. Free, fast, stable, able to pass through NAT and don't even requiring extra client/server software.
Troubles started few days after using it. Turned out, that Google has fucked up another thing.
Probably for security reasons (some says that due to developers stupidity) they decided that remote computer has to have a human behind it, who will constantly be clicking "Yes" in a dialog box asking, whether he or she want to continue sharing computer desktop.
If that person leave such question unanswered for some period of time, remote connection is automatically terminated by Google. What a lame -- you can completely forget about remote controlling some server systems, placed usually in some strange, hard-to-access places, often without LCD, mouse and keyboard.
Plus, again due to either security or stupidity, there is no way to permanently add any computer that is not in your Google Account, that is -- which Chrome (where you have Remote Desktop plugin installed) is not permanently logged into your account with your login and password.
In such situation you always has to ask someone by that computer to initiate sharing connection as pass you somehow temporal connection code. You can forget about controlling your parents or grandparents computer or to help this way all these people that are to old or to low IT educated to be able to jump over such limits.
Damn. So I'm back, where I was. With VNC again. Hardly possible to pass NAT and hell slow. But at least coded by Open Source geeks and not fucked up by Google-like-idiots!