Copyright ©1997-2008 Glenn Fleishman except as noted otherwise. All rights reserved. For permission to reprint, contact Glenn Fleishman at glenn at glennf.com. Photo © 2008 Laurence Chen; used with permission.
Copyright ©1997-2008 Glenn Fleishman except as noted otherwise. All rights reserved. For permission to reprint, contact Glenn Fleishman at glenn at glennf.com. Photo © 2008 Laurence Chen; used with permission.
Turning technology from mumbo-jumbo into rich tasty gumbo
� Gays Are Horndogs--I Heard it on NPR | Main | Recovering WEB GEEK License Plate �My column in yesterday's Seattle Times is about a familiar familial problem: providing technical support. Now, while it's possible to offer suggestions by phone, and a little in-person consulting, all of us who have more technical ability than any other family member (or friend) has found themselves asking someone to read off menu names, and then performing audio body English--willing them to click the thing you're trying to tell them to click.
I discovered that Timbuktu Pro, remote-control computer software, coupled with Skype, is a reasonable, albeit expensive solution for long-distance tech support. The expense is high--a two-user license is $180 to $200 depending on platforms. But once you have Skype and Timbuktu Pro installed on both machines (yours and the supportee), you can literally seize control of that foreign machine and show the other person what to do, or accomplish the task for them.
I've been calling it the mother-in-law solution because it solves the remote tech support problems we've had trying to give advice to Lynn's mom, and my officemate Jeff has already done the magic to help his mother-in-law.
Posted by Glennf at October 8, 2006 9:25 PM
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Damned unfortunate that Skype didn't get into bed with VNC instead. I left Timbuktu behind when Remote Desktop became usable.
[Note: It turns out that the Skype interface is an API -- there's a very straightforward method of passing data across the link using TCP or UDP methods. So all someone who works on VNC needs to do is plug in the Skype bits.--gf]
Posted by: Nat at October 25, 2006 7:49 PM
CoPilot from Fog Creek software might be an acceptable alternative.
https://www.copilot.com/
[Editor's note: Solves one problem, but rather expensive on an ongoing basis unless you need a bunch of the features, and not Mac-compatible. (This was a column about doing this on the Mac.)--gf]
Posted by: Mike Duffy at October 15, 2006 11:38 AM
That was a hilarious column. My mom will tell me on the phone that her "e-mail isn't working," and after a frustrating 20 minutes I'll figure out that the problem is that her Mac isn't plugged in.
Posted by: Stephen at October 10, 2006 5:02 AM
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