Along with Windows 8.1, Microsoft today launched new Microsoft Remote Desktop apps for iOS and OS X, designed to give users access to a Windows PC via RemoteFX on their Macs, iPhones, and iPads. News of a potential Remote Desktop app for Apple devices first surfaced last week.
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The iOS app offers a secure connection to data and applications through NLA technology along with multi-touch capabilities. It supports high quality video and sound streaming and connects to external monitors or protectors to for presentations. The Mac version also includes the ability to access local Mac files from Windows applications and printer capabilities.
iOS Features:
- Access to remote resources through the Remote Desktop Gateway
- Rich multi-touch experience with remote desktop protocol (RDP) and RemoteFX supporting Windows gestures
- Secure connection to your data and applications with breakthrough Network Layer Authentication (NLA) technology
- Simple management of all remote connections from the connection center
- High quality video and sound streaming with improved compression and bandwidth usage
- Easy connection to external monitors or projectors for presentations
Mac Features:
- Access to remote resources through the Remote Desktop Gateway
- Secure connection to your data and applications with breakthrough Network Layer Authentication (NLA) technology
- Simple management of all remote connections from the connection center
- High quality video and sound streaming with improved compression and bandwidth usage
- Easy connection to multiple monitors or projectors for presentations
- Print from Windows applications to any printer configured on your Mac
- Access local files on your Mac from your Windows applications
In addition to Remote Desktop tools for iOS and OS X, Microsoft is said to be developing similar tools for Android and Windows RT. Earlier this month, former Microsoft CEO Steve announced that the company also plans to expand its iOS offerings with an iPad version of Office to be released after the launch of the next major version of its Office suite.
Microsoft Remote Desktop for iOS is a universal app that can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]
Microsoft Remote Desktop for Mac is a free app that can be downloaded from the Mac App Store. [Direct Link]
Top Rated Comments
I see nothing here that would draw me away from using TeamViewer (www.teamviewer.com), which is free for personal use and works with Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Ubuntu, iPhone, iPad, etc. It's very secure and quite simple to set up and use (no messing around with ports), which comes in handy if providing remote support to those who aren't very computer literate. You can talk them through the setup on their end and be connected to them in less than a minute.
It really is a business tool rather than a consumer application especially since RDP is only available on the Pro or higher versions of Windows.I see no advantage at all in using a Microsoft product for this.
Using this Microsoft app to remote admin servers from a Mac is a lot cheaper than the £439 it would cost for TeamViewer. I've been using CoRD and while it works well it does seem to have stagnated in development.