What happens to Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection?
by Volker Weber
Microsoft RDC 2.0 for the Mac is currently released as beta 2 and will expire by the end of the month. I expected the final release to become available as part of Office 2008 but that did not happen. Microsoft press tells me the release is scheduled for "Spring". No sooner than next week, Microsoft has either to release a new beta or a final release. Does anybody have any further information?
Update: RDC 2.0 Beta 2 expired without any updates from Microsoft:
There are no plans to update the beta. The release is planned for "spring" with na particular date set. You can continue to use the beta by dismissing the dialog with the left button.
Comments
Keine Ahnung, wann/ob die eine neue Release veröffentlichen.
Ist RDP/RDC nicht auch Bestandteil der neuen Quelloffenheit bei MS? Vielleicht soll man sich das jetzt selber bauen? :-) Zur Not gibt es ja CoRD...
As Martin says, it doesn't really matter does it?
I’ve always used CoRD quite happily; MS have dropped Mac IE and crippled Office with regards VBA, so it’s clear that they aren’t that interested in the platform.
Is CoRD able to redirect the remote printer to the local one?
Well, I figured that answer was already implied by your question ;o) However, it is supported in the beta, which works just fine for me (XP / Server 2003—not tried it with Vista):
CoRD 0.5 Beta 1
Personally I’ve not felt the need to route printers or disks to a local system, so CoRD fits the bill for me on the (very) odd occasion I need to remote to Windows.
THIS is why I love your blog so much Volker...yet another alternative bit of software to add to my "box of tricks".
Colin is absolutely right. Especially for a Mac newbie like me, those tips are really great. And thank you Ben, CoRD seems to be more than a replacement for MS RD.
Since the MacBU needs RD itself, it's pretty obvious that they will release a new beta on or before March 31. Which will at least contain an extended time bomb, I suppose...
CoRD looks a viable replacement, though, I have to agree.
CoRD every time, far more stable than MS RDC...
Hint: Rely on Microsoft for Mac software ? Eh ?
---* Bill
Interesting. What kind of stability issues do you have with MS RDC? We are running RDC beta 2 on five machines day in and out, and have had zero issues so far.
Same for me, I also never had any problems with MS RDC.
Is MS RDC the same thing as mstsc?
The Mac version of it.
@Jesper: "mstsc" is the name of the windows executable. RDP is the name of the protocol.
How can you create an @-sign in your remote machine? On my MacBook I can use CTRL+ALT+Q. But we have MacBook Pro where it doesn't work.
The preferences are set identically (first 3 options are checked). Any ideas?
@Thomas: use a German keyboard mapping and then ALT+L ;-)
@Thomas: I meant to say, use an English mapping and a SHIFT+2
THX for the reply. All you windows users with many servers should try Royal TS.
So, the beta just expired and i got this "download our great final release"-thingy.. but can't find any final release on microsoft.com. However.. i got alot of problems with the beta2. A couple of times a day it starts to use 100% of one of my cores. Except from that i experience crashes atleast once every 2 days. This CoRD-thing was totally new for me. Tnx! :)
Old thead but a update is out today
http://bink.nu/news/microsoft-remote-desktop-connection-client-for-mac-2-beta-3.aspx
I've had problems with RDC Beta 3 - modifier keys were all screwed up but with default settings in OS X 10.4.11 and in RDC. Tried deleting the saved connection info and recreating but to no effect.
The problem manifested itself as, for example, pressing SHIFT and then SPACE would cause what amounted to pressing DELETE - i.e. characters in front of the cursor would be deleted. ALT key also not working.
I've gone back to RDC Beta 1, which apart from warning about the newer beta first time you connect, works fine.
RDC Beta 2 and 3 also limited the remote desktop size, in my case down from 1600x1200 to 1450x11.. something. Either way, shocking!
CoRD didn't work for me either, as in one of the remote apps (Quickbooks) there was screen repaint issues, leaving black holes in the display and making it unusable.
