It was mentioned some time ago that Chrome OS would support remote access via a browser. Days ago, Google made good on its promise, though it extends beyond the company’s stab at an operating system — all you need is a PC with the Chrome browser and a single extension installed.
Chrome Remote Desktop comes straight from Google and, like most of the company’s projects, has begun its public existence as a beta. Weighing in at 19.1MB, it’s certainly not the lightest of extensions, but once downloaded it takes seconds to install.
Now, using Google services to facilitate remote connections isn’t new. Software such as GBridge and iTeleport use Gmail to auto-discover PCs they can access and cut away some of the pain of configuring a VNC server. But Chrome Remote Desktop doesn’t appear to require Gmail access at all — it simply requests some basic permissions and, once you confirm you want to set up a connection, will spit out a 12-digit access code that can be used by any other Chrome-equipped PC sporting the extension to establish a connection.
Early reports indicate that while the process is incredibly smooth for a first release, it still needs some fine-tuning in the responsiveness department. On my local network, I had no problems getting connected wirelessly over 802.11n or through Gigabit Ethernet, but these are definitely ideal conditions. A good test will be on-the-road over 3G, which I’ll be trying as soon as I get the opportunity.
In the meantime, give the extension a go. It looks like it could prove an excellent substitute for UltraVNC or TightVNC, especially if you don’t need the additional features provide by these dedicated options.
Chrome Remote Desktop BETA [Chrome Web Store, via Liliputing]
logical
Sunday, October 9, 2011 at 2:18 PMi hope they patent it so FF doesn’t get it.
Dimitri
Sunday, October 9, 2011 at 9:33 PMI hope not, it would be nice to see it in other browsers.
Max
Monday, October 10, 2011 at 12:08 PMWhy on earth would you hope for that?
Sam D
Monday, October 10, 2011 at 8:03 AMI’ll be curious to set this up on my parents PC and see how it goes.
Jatallica
Monday, October 10, 2011 at 11:48 AMI doubt they would be able to patent it since this is extremely similar to how TeamViewer works.
HunterSBonobo
Monday, October 10, 2011 at 4:12 PMI’ll test this across my own computers and if it works will employ it with my parents now that I’ve managed to migrate them to chrome. Sending them a link to a self-installing browser extension seems the easiest way to set up from afar.