Initial Impressions

[Neil]

Had meant to starting testing this early, but life got in the way.  So after an initial installation over an existing 1.85 install, things went ok.  There was some initial detection issues, and confusion over the GUI but was finally able to connect, that said, I did notice a bit of drop out from time to time.

So the first impressions are.

- The beta4 gui is really basic.  I'd expected to be able to click on each device and tweak its specific settings (hotkeys, screen saves options, clipboard sharing) or to just force certain devices to be clients or servers as before.

- There is no (clear) way currently of changing the owner of the software, and would be interested in seeing how this might work in enterprise where machines could be cloned (which also brings in a host of other interesting issues).

- Something I have missed for a while, is a notification icon, to show you have connected, (perhaps can indicate if you are the Server/Client or screen locked). On the Mac its fine, but for windows, (for me) it only appears if I have the GUI open/minimised.

- This has come up a few times, but I have to add my voice too, having it cloud based is a concern.  While for home users its almost ok, and can see the benefit of simply configuration.  But then this can be done via other means and had been working fine with 1.8 (just reinstalled it and was spot on and quick).

- The other concern that links to the cloud use is how things get if the internet is unavailable.   This dependency, after installation is over, should only really be needed for updates, if the customer wants to add or remove devices or push an configuration change to them from the web and not, as I had prevent it from connecting (with the client crashing out rather than stating why it was unhappy).

- Which leads into the lack of a web client to access and view the information stored on the Cloud, which should ideally give options to add/remove devices (similar to say how dropbox works) as well as diagnostic information, and configurations changes.  Is this something that is coming?

I noted from one post, that there maybe extras in an enterprise version. It might be useful to expand this out in time what those features are and which version will get offered what (Regular, Pro, Enterprise).  An example being that the idea of offline mode, and having read the forums, that the tone suggestions that Pro uses would like this, while Regular user just use the cloud services. Which could lead onto the desire of Enterprise users, where they may want to use their own local servers instead of using yours to manage their clients.

I hope this has helped.  I'm going back to 1.8 as this is still early days for a beta (and not looking for a refund).  I look forward to seeing how this develops, and testing again in the future, and in seeing how you take on board peoples views/concerns and dovetail those into your business model for the product.

[jaap aarts]

an offline mode should come, dont quote me on it tho.

more configuration in the GUI should come too.

like device management would be cool.

notification icon would be really usefull as well, this could also include quick settings.

[Onoitsu2]

@Nick Bolton has been quoted as saying that at release time there will be an option to verify using offline methods. But likely won't be until that time.

[Neil]

I've not read all of the posts, so some of this may already be started and may even be in the plan for future releases.  Just sharing a views/ideas from brief use the beta, with the desire to support a product I've used for good while now and want to continue to succeed and improve over the coming years.

So just to clarify, the offline vs cloud question.  I see two components, the license verification and then there is configuration management.

Much like password managers, you have two breeds.  Those that use the cloud, that then must have add additional layers of security to protect their devices/data, as we've all seen the problems when one of those product sites gets hacked.  Then there are those that give the customer the option to control how and when they sync their data between devices, while they are more time consuming they work when you need them to and are as secure as the customer wants.

We then have network outages, whether from the internet, routers, local switches, cloud servers, they do occur. So any product that demands to have access to their servers on start-up (or then crashes/refuses to start/work) is not going to get good press and could damage the use of a product in the enterprise.  I've managed enough DR recoveries in my professional life, to know there are some types of equipment that just need to work no matter what condition your network is in and keyboards are pretty high on the list.

A solution (there are many I'm sure), would be that on start-up if there is no cloud access, to just use the last know configuration (maybe with manual configuration), and to retest for updates every X period of time (maybe in the order of 10's of minutes or hourly to prevent swamping the network).  While this doesn't solve the issue of never having internet access (eg for secure networks) it at least allows the product to work for everyone else.  A true offline mode, could be possible via either a similar method to 1.8 (useful for home or small installations) or by buying a server license from Synergy, to allow a large enterprise to run their own local management server (another possible revenue stream as well).

The fact that the product is a keyboard incept program, any mention of the cloud needs to be clearly clarified, to show what is and is not sent via the internet and how/what is stored on a remote server, etc. Hence the suggestion of being able to see devices and stored data from a web console (much as you can from a managed anti-virus client like Kaspersky or Symantec).

An interesting question that again may have been answered, is with the cloud use, will this allow some method of pushing updates to peoples machines, with some level of customer control but providing automated upgrading, vs manual download and install?

The Licensing question can be solved via a number of ways.  Just depends on which options are desired.  An option, if the intent is to offer yearly licensing as well as/or replacing version licensing, I'd suggest looking at the AV companies again and seeing how they manage licensing as it seems to work well.

I look forward to the next beta and seeing what is to come.

[Nick Bolton]

43 minutes ago, Neil said:

buying a server license from Synergy, to allow a large enterprise to run their own local management server (another possible revenue stream as well).

Way ahead of you! But I like the way your mind works.

44 minutes ago, Neil said:

The fact that the product is a keyboard incept program, any mention of the cloud needs to be clearly clarified, to show what is and is not sent via the internet and how/what is stored on a remote server, etc.

Only your local IPs and hostnames are sent to the cloud.

56 minutes ago, Neil said:

will this allow some method of pushing updates to peoples machines, with some level of customer control but providing automated upgrading, vs manual download and install?

Yes, this is a planned feature.

57 minutes ago, Neil said:

I look forward to the next beta and seeing what is to come.

Dynamic networking, stay tuned.