re: previous blog post...

On 11/27/05 10:18 AM, "Joe Emailer" wrote:

> Regarding mfn post, since about 2003 the sysadmins at [University X] Math have
> had desktop sharing available on the machines they administer so they
> could see a user's desktop on their screen while the user is looking
> at it, and show him/her how to do something. It's built into KDE, but
> I don't recall there being a GNOME counterpart. All handled over ssh,
> etc. It basically made VNC an integrated part of the system.
>
> Not sure if that's exactly what you were interested in, but I could
> certainly see a system like RedHat or Novell/SuSE offering paid
> support just using that functionality that's been around for a while.
>
> [Emailer's name]

Ok, let's put this another way: If Red Hat thought user support via desktop 'intervention' was a priority, they'd be offering it now. I'm not sure they aren't, but it appears Microsoft is going to be shortly. For some reason it strikes me as a model that would work with MS and not so much for Linux vendors. This feeling is based almost exclusively on relatively irrational 'hunches'. ;^)

It's obviously not a matter of #if# Linux can mirror desktops securely; it obviously can, and I've played with the same [free as in free] tools on OS X. The question is if the service is going to be as easily available to business users using Linux as it will be for those using MS. I doubt it.

mfn