Over the last few weeks I’ve been looking into VNC systems in the ongoing effort to help me support my clients.

Just as a review, VNC stands for “Virtual Network Computing” as is just a fancy way of allowing remote control over a system. Literally a VNC client has control over the VNC hosts mouse and keyboard, and the video is sent from the host to the client. This allows me at my office to remote service a client anyway in the world. In an extreme example, I used the system when I was in Ghana West Africa to fix systems back here in Crossville. But on more day to day bases, I use it to service clients I have in Nashville, Knoxville, and Atlanta, without the need to spend 4 hours in a car to do a 2 hour on site job.

Now there are commercial paid VNC applications and there are free and/or open-source ones. For my part, I looked at 3 freely available VNC systems, RealVNC, UltraVNC, TightVNC.

Both TightVNC and UltraVNC have a file transfer system, which allows easy movement of files between the host and client computers. But I found both systems file transfer systems to be a bit klugy. You browsed a directory system that did not look or feel like a standard windows interface. The systems were also mutually excusive to send files from client to host, both had to be running the same VNC system, TightVNC Client could not send to UltraVNC host, or vice versa.

UltraVNC has a “chat” system with allows two people setting at either side of the VNC link to “chat” communicate. I however was not impressed by this feature because in my line of work I normally have the person on other end of the VNC link on the telephone.

Of the three I found RealVNC to be the fastest. Response times were much faster using RealVNC than either UltaVNC or TightVNC. I also found that the screens just looked better with RealVNC than they did with the other two.

All systems encrypt the password for authentication. But only UltraVNC has an option (an additional plug-in) that encrypts all traffic.

Of course all three system could interoperate with each other for the basic VNC functions, with are Video, Mouse, Keyboard. I found that all three could use the Linux VNC host. However, I could only get TightVNC to work with the native Apple Macintosh OS 10.5 (leopard) Desktop Sharing / Remote Desktop system which uses VNC. For my Macs I like to use Redstone Software’s Vine Server (a.k.a. osxvnc) for the VNC host.

All three systems do a “listing” mode for their client, and a “connect to client” mode for their host. This means that a person setting at the host computer can initiate a connection to a client. This is good for security, because it allows the host machine to ONLY allow connections when the user of that host machine specifically starts one. Also this is good for firewall purposes, most often in my line of work a host machine is behind a firewall and NAT. With this “reverse” connection I do not need to adjust the clients firewall when they need help. I simple have a rule in my firewall here at the office to allow incoming reverse connections.

Of the three systems, the interface for RealVNC seemed the most polished. TightVNC very much looks like a Windows 200 era application, and UltraVNC looks better than TightVNC, but not as good as RealVNC.

Side note on Macs: There are only two VNC clients I have found, Chicken of the VNC and Jollysfastvnc. Of the two I’m prone to Jollysfastvnc because it can do screen rendering to fit larger resolution hosts on a smaller resolution client.

In conclusion, I have opted to use 2 VNC systems. I will keep using RealVNC for the speed, but I will keep TightVNC on hand both for the Macintosh Leopard compatibility, and the file transfer ability, which might have some use, despite it’s difficult user interface.

Both Systems can be downloaded via the Software section of the website.

http://blog.holdenkarau.com/2008/07/gaping-whole-in-gmail-privacy.html

and

http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/07/16/2220232&from=rss

Looks like Google let one slip through.

I have today upgrade the site so as to allow easier browsing by small screen devices such as PDAs, Cell Phone Browsers, and the iPhone/iPod Touch.

Yes, I know I wrote a rather negative review of AVG 8.0 and I did end up uninstalling AVG altogether because I did not like the new version. I decided to give Microsoft One Care antivirus another look. Alas, I still did not find it to be the clean non-invasive system that I came to know and love about AVG 7.5 and older.

However, I made an odd discovery, it seems that despite early statements from Grisoft/AVG (thanks timd442@gmail.com for pointing out my earlier misspelling), AVG 7.5 is still running smoothly and getting updates. While I do not know how long this will last, I’m going to use it for as long as I can. So AVG 7.5 is back on my system. Yea!

I have posted both AVG 8.0 and 7.5 is the Software Section, should you want to get them.

Let me pose a question which I will answer in parts. Why do we go to stores to shop?

Sure, for the past 10,000 years, man has journeyed to a marketplace to trade for goods and services he needs. But why now, with the Internet, Amazon, Buy.com, Cars.com, eBay, etc, do we still go to Target, Wal-Mart, Staples, and Kroger?

I think that there are only a few motiving factors as to why a person would want to shop in a store rather than from a website.

Knowledgeable Sales Force, Post Sales Support, First Hand Evaluation, and Instant Gratification.

First, Knowledgeable Sales Force. There is the perception that if you walk into a store, the person in the store will have some knowledge on the products they sell.

Next, Post Sales Support. There is a perception that having a physical location provides better support should you need to return the item you have bought. There is also this sort of odd perception that if you have a problem, having physical people you can go to and try to reason with face-to-face will somehow net you better results than doing that same reasoning over a phone.

Next, First Hand Evaluation. There is a perception that by simply looking, touching, and feeling a product, a layperson can make an informed judgement on what product to buy.

Finally, Instant Gratification. When we want something we want to be able to get it right now.

I see these obstacles to online shopping as being mostly theoretical and/or irrational, and as these fade, so to will the era of large retail stores.

We have seen a consolidation over the past 20 years into ever larger “warehouse” like stores. These have the advantage of being able to concentrate goods thus lowering the price but have this disadvantage of commodising the workforce which runs these stores. I think it’s very sad when my Grandparents say “just ask the nice boy/girl at Wal-Mart, they can help”. For the most part if what you want to know is on what isle you can find a box with a UPC code on it, then the “nice boy/girl” can help you. But if you want to ask a technical question, say “which new TV has the best high light visibility” or “Which food product has the best nutritional value”, the poor Mc-Jober is going to be totally lost. This is because that these warehouses via there pay and disposition do not encourage their employees to take an interest in familiarizing themselves with the products.

Now I know that there are MANY people working in these environments which know a great deal about the details of the products they sell, but these people are the exception, not the norm, and as time passes we will be less and less likely to trust the opinion of the person in the blue/red/green vest, because we will no longer see them as collectively as knowledgeable.

Now, as we come to realize this lowered expectations of the workers in these warehouses, we will seek advise from experts. These experts will of course be mostly in the form of on-line groupings of people (wikis, forums, etc) who come together to share information about products. As people come to trust these online communities they will in effect come to distrust their own “gut” when it comes to purchasing decisions. People will always have a personal preference for this or that bath soap or paper towel patter based on an irrational element. But when it comes to larger items, even things as lower as $50, why not take a moment to consult the wisdom of the group, and buy based on that.

This lack of expertise on the part of the sales forces is also why post-product support is almost alway handled by simply exchanging the defective product for one that works, or getting a refund. If your new TV from Wal-Mart breaks, you can take that TV back to Wal-mart, but there not going to fix it, their just going to give you a new one. This is no different than any on-line retailer.

The next logical step for these warehouse stores is to move from big locations to GIANT regaional ones, or even a single national location. Actually the best model is that of Amazon, which does not nesasaerly stock products but ships and cross ships from manufactures. Rather than have customers come to the store, the store will come to them, via UPS and Fedex.

As far as Instant Gratification, I think that for the most part this need for instant gratification is a human failing and a weakness to our culture. It leads to irrational and ill-considered decisions. Never the less, this need is almost a religion in out society.

Ultimately it will be price kill the need for Instant Gratification. The on-line world is a truer fair and free market. Because you eliminate the physical location aspect of the supply vs. demand model, buyers and sellers find the right (and lower) price point across the word.

There is also a legitimate need for things needed “right now”, such as personal items, first aid, medications, etc. In this regard perhaps not ALL retail stores will go away, but they will be reduced to the sort of local pharmacy / convenience stores we see now.

Everyone in my field of work likes to make predictions. In fact, for the most part we make predictions because we’re trying to keep ahead of the curve. Some of these things turn out to be correct, most turn out to be wrong. The only bad thing about making a prediction is when you try to hold to that prediction, long after it’s been proven wrong. When people do this, it’s just annoying. When companies do it, you see divergent standards and confused implementations of products.

I’m going to start writing up some of my strategic predictions for the coming years/decaces under the category Predictions. Maybe I’ll look back on this in a few years a laugh at my misunderstandings.

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