Free or Cheaper Alternatives to Apple Remote Desktop 3

remote desktopsoftware-recommendation

Apple Remote Desktop isn't a bad program. It's a bit overdue for an update, has some issues, but is an otherwise solid program. The big downside to ARD is the price, however.

I'm trying to find an option for teachers in primary/elementary classrooms to have all the computers in their class up on the projector (which you can do with remote desktop) but I don't want to pay the US$499 unlimited seat option (education pricing is a bit cheaper, but still too much). I'm aware you can VNC using the Finder in Snowleopard, but I'm hoping for a tidy program that can simultaneously show (view) several macs. VNC Control would be nice, but isn't necessary. Ideally (almost essential) it will use the existing screen sharing engine in Sharing.preferences.

Update
It's important that the product can show more than one screen at the same time. Logmein free is a great product but doesn't do this.

Best Answer

ARD is now available on the Mac App Store for only $79.99.

ARD aside, you can do pretty much anything ARD can do with Screen Sharing, File Sharing, scp, ssh and AppleScript.