[1126] in IS Home Pages
Re: Core Software: Timbuktu Site License?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jonathan McIndoe Hunt)
Tue Mar 28 19:22:39 2000
Message-Id: <4.2.2.20000328190801.04a2e4b0@po12.mit.edu>
Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2000 19:21:49 -0500
To: "Kevin M. Cunningham" <kcunning@mit.edu>, goguen@mit.edu, swrt@mit.edu,
mitapps@mit.edu, vsls@mit.edu, ishome@mit.edu
From: Jonathan McIndoe Hunt <jmhunt@MIT.EDU>
Cc: "Kevin M. Cunningham" <kcunning@mit.edu>, hogue@mit.edu
In-Reply-To: <v04020a00b506e83ab24d@[18.152.1.50]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
Hi Kevin,
As I recall, IS looked into Timbuktu a few years back (maybe 6) and decided
that Timbuktu violates MIT Privacy Guidelines. It provides too much
access to people's computers via the network and is too open to
abuse. This is what I was told as a student working on the Network
Helpdesk 5 years ago.
-Jonathan
At 06:15 PM 3/28/2000 -0500, Kevin M. Cunningham wrote:
>Howdy,
>
>As I was researching how other universities distribute software, I noticed
>that USC has a site license for Timbuktu, which is software that allows
>you to remotely manage another computer, including seeing what's on the
>screen. They include this software in their basic distribution set (along
>with Netscape, Fetch, etc.), and they list it as a "Remote Consulting"
>product, implying it's used to help consultants work with customers remotely.
>
>Have we looked into getting a Timbuktu site license to help our consulting
>groups assist clients remotely?
>
>Of course, it may be too expensive, inappropriate, etc. -- there's no
>indication whether USC has found it worth its investment (we'd want to
>check with the -- and with Netopia about costs...). And I know it wouldn't
>help with basic connectivity issues or remote computing (e.g., laptops,
>dialup, etc.), which are a significant part of the Help call load. But it
>might be worth looking into.
>
>Just a thought as we once again look into how to help the support
>providers help customers.
>
>--Kevin
