Mac RDP Client Wishlist
Published on 2 Jan 2008 · Filed in Rant · 326 words (estimated 2 minutes to read)There seem to be quite a few IT professionals out there that have chosen Mac OS X as their primary computing platform. While some of them may have environments that are predominantly UNIX or Linux-based—Macs seem to be particularly common in heavy Solaris environments—I would hazard to guess that a larger majority of them have Windows-based environments that they must support. As a result, a good Remote Desktop client for connecting to Windows-based servers is a valuable piece of software to have.
In search of that ideal Remote Desktop client, I’ve been through a pretty fair number of Remote Desktop clients and related software. While each of these clients has their own strengths and weaknesses, I have yet to find a Remote Desktop client that has what I’d really like to see.
Here’s my “wish list” for the perfect Remote Desktop Connection client:
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It’s an Aqua-native application with a Universal binary. Hey, I still have some old PowerPC-based Macs at home.
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It doesn’t interfere with Quicksilver.
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It supports multiple sessions in such a way that I can switch between these sessions as easily as I could switch between multiple browser windows, multiple Finder windows, or multiple Word documents. That means it should play well with the Dock (single icon on the dock with a pop-up listing all the windows/connections), Expose (Application Windows, or F10, should show all connections/windows, like it would for Safari, Mail, or Finder), and Spaces, if running on Leopard.
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Full Leopard compatibility, of course.
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Support for Mac OS shortcuts in the Windows session, so that I don’t have to remember Cmd-C in Mac OS versus Ctrl-C in Windows.
So far, I’ve tried just about every Remote Desktop client out there: Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Connection (including the new beta version), TSClientX, and CoRD. Am I missing any significant contenders?
If anyone would like to suggest a Remote Desktop client, feel free to cast your votes and voice your support in the comments below. Thanks!