RC2 was actually released 15 days ago. The main emphasis of this build has been the port from VB.NET to C# and is done by a new team of developers / maintainers. Pretty nice project! Glad it's not dead.
It's definitely used that way, but it's not that it's a bad language.
Really it has the PHP problem: lots of new (inexperienced) programmers use it, and so there seems to be a disproportionate amount of their not-very-good code floating around out there. The implication of course is that if you find some random project written in VB.NET, there's a higher-than-average chance[1] that it's not great quality.
For what it's worth, there's actually quite a few features in VB.NET that aren't in C#[2], though honestly not many that are compelling enough to switch. The reverse is actually not true: There's really nothing you can do in C# that you can't do in VB.NET, though in many cases the syntax is slightly more awkward (lambdas, ternary and coalesce operators come to mind). In many cases (plain procedural code) the only difference between the two is semicolons and how you end code blocks (if/for/while/etc).
All that said, these days I'd be surprised if anyone chooses VB.NET over C# for anything new. IMHO C# is still a much nicer language.
As someone who used to use mRemote everyday, all day long (change of jobs since then and the work I do now doesn't require it) I can say that mRemote(ng) is super stable, especially considering what it does. And I used the app more than any other on my computer, apart from Chrome, and it rarely had any crashes. The fact that it had barely any updates for years but was still so stable is a testament to how well it was written, regardless of it being written in VB.
And just because a language is used for teaching and not necessarily designed for super robust applications, doesn't mean something written in it isn't useful or dependable.
A Windows-based, open source remote connection manager that supports popular protocols such as ssh, RDP, VNC, and others. It's has a tabbed UI, very useful if you manage multiple remote computers. It's always been stable and fast for me.
The head of mRemoteNG has posted in the forums[1] in Jan 2016 asking advise on whether he should declare the project dead.
------------start quote--------------
mRemoteNG has not been in active development for quite some time now. After I lost my job, I had hoped I could make a living maintaining mRemoteNG. However, user contributions and website advertising revenue turned out not to be enough to make that possible and the open source license means there are not many other options for monetization.
It's time that I either hand the reigns over to someone else or declare the project dead. I feel bad for not doing so sooner.
If I let someone else take over, the question is, how do I find such a person, and how do I make sure they are the right person? It's a lot of work for very little reward. In addition to writing code, you need to triage bug reports in JIRA, reply to emails, reply to forum posts, keep the forum spam free, and countless other things. For mRemoteNG to thrive, you will need help and finding and coordinating those helpers is a lot of work in itself.
The big question though is, is it worth it? The architecture of mRemoteNG is old and fragile. I made many bug fixes, improvements, and refactored a lot but there's still a ton that needs to be improved. Nearly every seemingly simple bug report or feature request ends up being a huge can of worms due to deep architectural issues or third party dependencies.
So, what are everyone's thoughts? Do I declare the project dead or find someone to continue it? People have offered to help but how do I make sure they're trustworthy? How do I make sure I don't just hand mRemoteNG over to someone who will just steal all of your passwords or something?
-----------end quote------------------
Felix, the original author of mRemote had replied[2] in that thread in March 2016 offering to help
------------start quote------------------
Hi there,
I'm Felix, the original author of mRemote which I initially started in 2007. I've previously worked with rmcardle to transition the project to him since I joined ASG (visionapp back then) to improve ASG Remote Desktop. A few years back I then joined the Royal Applications team to try something new - build a remote connections manager for the Mac. Since then it's been 4 years that I'm happily building and improving Royal TSX (for OS X): https://www.royalapplications.com/ts/osx/features
Since I'm still developing a competing commercial product and due to my past relationship with mRemote, I've monitored mRemoteNG development quite closely. Furthermore, I've seen references to "Owner of the original mRemote", "Original mRemote author", etc. so I wanted to chime in on the discussion and generally offer myself as being available for questions or inquiries of all kinds.
So, if you need anything, just PM me or reply to this thread.
Welp, I upgraded from the previous version and I cannot open my connection file with this new version. I may be an uncommon user because I have an encrypted connection file. Just a warning to existing users who may be upgrading.
10 comments
[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 39.4 ms ] threadThe fact that this project was in Visual Basic already makes me wary. Nowadays, isn't that just a training language for youngsters?
Really it has the PHP problem: lots of new (inexperienced) programmers use it, and so there seems to be a disproportionate amount of their not-very-good code floating around out there. The implication of course is that if you find some random project written in VB.NET, there's a higher-than-average chance[1] that it's not great quality.
For what it's worth, there's actually quite a few features in VB.NET that aren't in C#[2], though honestly not many that are compelling enough to switch. The reverse is actually not true: There's really nothing you can do in C# that you can't do in VB.NET, though in many cases the syntax is slightly more awkward (lambdas, ternary and coalesce operators come to mind). In many cases (plain procedural code) the only difference between the two is semicolons and how you end code blocks (if/for/while/etc).
All that said, these days I'd be surprised if anyone chooses VB.NET over C# for anything new. IMHO C# is still a much nicer language.
[1] Not at all scientific, only my personal observation [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_C_Sharp_and_Visu...
And just because a language is used for teaching and not necessarily designed for super robust applications, doesn't mean something written in it isn't useful or dependable.
------------start quote--------------
mRemoteNG has not been in active development for quite some time now. After I lost my job, I had hoped I could make a living maintaining mRemoteNG. However, user contributions and website advertising revenue turned out not to be enough to make that possible and the open source license means there are not many other options for monetization.
It's time that I either hand the reigns over to someone else or declare the project dead. I feel bad for not doing so sooner.
If I let someone else take over, the question is, how do I find such a person, and how do I make sure they are the right person? It's a lot of work for very little reward. In addition to writing code, you need to triage bug reports in JIRA, reply to emails, reply to forum posts, keep the forum spam free, and countless other things. For mRemoteNG to thrive, you will need help and finding and coordinating those helpers is a lot of work in itself.
The big question though is, is it worth it? The architecture of mRemoteNG is old and fragile. I made many bug fixes, improvements, and refactored a lot but there's still a ton that needs to be improved. Nearly every seemingly simple bug report or feature request ends up being a huge can of worms due to deep architectural issues or third party dependencies.
So, what are everyone's thoughts? Do I declare the project dead or find someone to continue it? People have offered to help but how do I make sure they're trustworthy? How do I make sure I don't just hand mRemoteNG over to someone who will just steal all of your passwords or something?
-----------end quote------------------
Felix, the original author of mRemote had replied[2] in that thread in March 2016 offering to help
------------start quote------------------
Hi there,
I'm Felix, the original author of mRemote which I initially started in 2007. I've previously worked with rmcardle to transition the project to him since I joined ASG (visionapp back then) to improve ASG Remote Desktop. A few years back I then joined the Royal Applications team to try something new - build a remote connections manager for the Mac. Since then it's been 4 years that I'm happily building and improving Royal TSX (for OS X): https://www.royalapplications.com/ts/osx/features
Since I'm still developing a competing commercial product and due to my past relationship with mRemote, I've monitored mRemoteNG development quite closely. Furthermore, I've seen references to "Owner of the original mRemote", "Original mRemote author", etc. so I wanted to chime in on the discussion and generally offer myself as being available for questions or inquiries of all kinds.
So, if you need anything, just PM me or reply to this thread.
cheers, felix
-----------end quote------------------
[1] - http://forum.mremoteng.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3137#p6165
[2] - http://forum.mremoteng.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3137&start=20...