I need to go RTFA, so please forgive if it is already in there, but I hope this means there will be some progress to enabling remote assistance / remote control of a Chrome device a like a Chromebook. Two years that issue has been open with hundreds of users complaining and no word. :/
Google Hangouts adds remote desktop support
41–50 of 80 posts
Re: Google Hangouts adds remote desktop support
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is why I suspect they've drug their feet on Google Voice integration. They want to make that seamless. You want to call [Person] and you shouldn't have to even think about whether it's over Hangouts or PTSN. That's what Google Voice will give them. You call them from the Hangouts app and they pass it through Google Voice if they're not signed into any Hangout machines. It roughly works this way already for exist…
Calls incoming to my Google Voice number already ring in Hangouts for me - I actually use that any time I have to do phone conferencing now, since I can just use my computer headset rather than futzing with a phone headset.
Oh god, I love it. My computer even rings a good second or two before my phone so I can hit Pause on my keyboard (Spotify pauses) and then click "Answer". I've got a usb headset with decent speaker-drivers so I can listen to music while I work and switch between Lync/Hangout calls easily.
Re: Google Hangouts adds remote desktop support
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not X11, any app can see or manipulate any other apps screen buffer. It is one reason Wayland is nice. If your system has MAC you can restrict its file access, but in general you have library support for this stuff built in. It is also why in most cases it is a PITA to stream 3d rendered screens. Opengl / directX don't provide easy ways like X11 to look at a completed framebuffer and store / broadcast it.
In OpenGL this is fairly easy using FBO's - http://www.songho.ca/opengl/gl_fbo.html . I have never used DirectX but I would be surprised if it did not allow you to read the framebuffer.
It does. That is how a lot of bots and other cheats are made.
Re: Google Hangouts adds remote desktop support
#44Am I the only one who prefers regular gchat to google hangouts? It's super difficult to figure out who on my contact list is online or not. I also mistake old msgs as new ones because of the lack of time-stamps. Maybe I'm missing a check-box or something that could fix all this but I gave up and switched back to gchat almost immediately.
I see timestamps under messages in both the web and Android client. I definitely prefer the look of Hangouts. I don't see much difference between it and GTalk utility-wise.
> I don't see much difference between it and GTalk utility-wise.
You see online/idle/offline/mobile/mobile-idle icons and status messages in hangouts?
Re: Google Hangouts adds remote desktop support
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
I doubt this analogy is perfect. Location/upkeep/convenience are different in the software world, and one of the big problems with Walmart is that they underpay their workers. And whereas mass produced X and artisan X might be different, I don't see any advantage of artisan desktop sharing. Maybe there is something to soaking up a market (RSS) then dropping it (though it seems the ball is being somewhat picked up the…
If you want to carry on the analogy, Google has a debit card that only works at Google and unlike Walmart it won't accept competitors coupons and all the stuff sold in store isn't sold anywhere else. You also can't take it apart, and only people with Google debit cards can see any of it when it leaves the store. Hangouts is becoming a nightmare of a proprietary locked in mess that is destroying decades of progress in…
"They are killing Jingle and XMPP by depreciating Talk..."
As of two or three weeks ago, the Hangouts videoconferencing code used WebRTC, Jingle, and a variety of video and audio codecs (among which one could find Opus.).
If you run the software on a *nix system, you can verify my claims by checking the contents of /tmp/gtalkplugin.log while you're in a video call with someone. Note that that file seems to be flushed to disk at irregular intervals, and that it is removed after the call is terminated.
Re: Google Hangouts adds remote desktop support
#46Ok Google, now do this using the webRTC data channel instead of a plugin (using Vidyo's H.264/SVC) webRTC is going to be really exciting in the next year or so. Google is pushing it, but it'd be great to see them actually using it. I was hoping New Hangouts would be on webRTC, but it is still a bit early.
Hangouts currently seems to use WebRTC behind the scenes. See my comment here for more details: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5949188
Re: Google Hangouts adds remote desktop support
#47When are they going to publish their protocol, or return support for XMPP federation? Users should avoid them until they do either of those.
ATM XMPP federation is still up and running. If enough people approach the Messaging folks at Google with coherent, well-reasoned reasons for leaving it up (and perhaps securing it with TLS!), then it might get left up for good.
Re: Google Hangouts adds remote desktop support
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's valid. Remote desktop opens up some interesting attack vectors, whether used by the NSA or just some hacker with malicious intent. There's nothing I can see about security mitigations...
"valid" aside from the fact that there's no way in this world or the next that all of that video and remote desktop traffic is going though Google's servers.
So the traffic won't have 'direct access' to Google's servers? That's reassuring :)
Re: Google Hangouts adds remote desktop support
#49The best remote desktop software I have used is - http://www.join.me
Just have the other person click 'Share', wait a bit for it to load, then have them copy and paste their share URL. It works right in the browser and is free.
If Google Hangouts make this easier for me to fix my mother's laptop I'm all for it!
Re: Google Hangouts adds remote desktop support
#50The best remote desktop software I have used is - http://www.join.me Just have the other person click 'Share', wait a bit for it to load, then have them copy and paste their share URL. It works right in the browser and is free. If Google Hangouts make this easier for me to fix my mother's laptop I'm all for it!
Dang it, I'd been looking for something just like this very recently, and my Google-fu had failed me.
Man I wish I'd been able to find this.