Are Free Remote Access Programs A Good Choice?

Sep 15
07:47

2011

Phillip Presley

Phillip Presley

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There are quite a few free and open source remote access programs available out there. But are they really worth using? Or is commercial software better?

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Everyone who wants a Remote Access  program would like one that is of good quality and will deliver them the features that they need.However,Are Free Remote Access Programs A Good Choice? Articles many people and businesses alike do not have big budgets and would like to save money at all costs on software.In the past decade, we have seen the apparition of open source software pretty much everywhere.The Firefox web browser, as well as hundreds of variants of the Linux operating system are all excellent examples of this.But when it comes to remote access software, are there any good choices which are open source programs that you dont have to pay anything for?The answer is definitely.However, there are certain things to keep in consideration when using ANY kind of open source program and not just Remote Desktop Software.Here are the major ones:Limited / no supportOpen source programs are usually developed by a community of software developers who dont make any profit from selling their programs.While they may collect donations or sell other merchandise to make some money, this usually will not be sufficient to staff a proper 24 hours a day support department.Direct technical support, if available, is usually done only by email and you may need to wait a day or more for a response.Otherwise, there are free, community based forums for support.While they generally offer good content, they may not be too helpful if you need an answer NOW.Security / reliability issuesRemote Control  Softwarewhich is open source is provided free with no warranties of any kind.The development community obviously doesnt guarantee that these programs are free of errors in their code or do not have compatibility issues that could affect certain users.While most problems are resolved rather quickly when the development community releases a patch or upgrade, they are in no way obligated to the users to do so.Same thing with security.Usually, any security issue that is noticed by the community or reported by users will be addressed quite rapidly, however do take note that you would have absolutely no recourse against the makers of the software should there be a security breach in your system that was caused by using the program.However, this should not discourage you from using open source software in general.You just need to be aware that if something goes wrong, you cannot expect immediate assistance.But if you are using the software for light duties, such as for home or small business useFree Web Content, then open source remote desktop software could very well be the solution for you.