I did not yet find anything on Google News or here ... I thought thousands of licenced people will jump up and scream - and it seems I am the first one. But ok, I will stand up, alone or not.
Teamviewer got big by being for free. Even with Teamviewer 13 you can still make an account, you can add your devices, you can manage them, you can use two computers in the same time, you can use any device you want ... no problem. With the free version.
This was also no problem with the licensed version. I own a license. Since Teamviewer 9. I upgraded each year. I have Teamviewer 12. I supported this software and company. I liked their fairness so one day I said "ok, from now I will have my license".
So ... I bought a license for myself. I am a single person. I do not share my license or my list of computers. I had just one computer licensed, which I mostly used for connections. But sometimes I used my notebook in the same time for another connection ... or I visited a company in which I manage the IT and used their client computers to connect home to my computer for example to look up for some registry key or to copy a file. So you could say I worked opposite to the license. But I did not work opposites to Teamviewer's policy. The policy is: everybody can use it. When you want, where you want, how often you want ... with some small limits when you have a free version, of course.
So, I was happy. I was licensed. I used normally just 1 PC and 1 channel. Rarely another machine or more channels. But it happened. And when I needed it was important. And I was happy the software let me do it. I was fair to pay my license, Teamviewer was fair to let me a bit more space.
This fairness got broken with Teamviewer 13 totally. When Teamviewer announced the beta, I installed it and bought the license. So I paid another 200 €. When I paid already more than 1000 € in the last 4 years. Then I started to use it, updated some clients ... connected from my notebook ... connected from my server ... then I went with another (bigger) notebook to the living room to watch football and wanted to keep an eye on my PC and ...... BAAAAAAAAAAM
Something written like "you have already used this software on 3 different machines" - and it did not let me login in the software to see my computers and to connect. As a licensed user. As a loyal user. As a supporter. As one of many who told everyone "Teamviewer is so great". Suddenly Teamviewer stops me from working like I was used to. Just because they can. They limit a licensed user to something which a free user is not limited too. I checked it. I tested it. A free user has no 3 machines limit. A free user uses Teamviewer 13 just like Teamviewer 12. Why the **bleep** should I now buy Teamviewer anymore, if I can do less things with a license than I can do with a free version? Does this make any sense?
I reverted to Teamviewer 12. I claimed my money back for the upgrade (which worked fine). I am back on Teamviewer 12. If I still had Teamviewer 13, tonight I would have been doomed, and I give you the example.
In the evening I went to that company which I administrate. I meant to take my work notebook with me but when I arrived there I noticed I forgot it. I had to do server works so I had to shut down a server, boot it back up and connect an encrypted drive. For this I need to connect to the server by Teamviewer. Since my license was back to Teamviewer 12, I just started one of the clients, logged in and used it to do my server works. Great. Exactly what I expect Teamviewer to be for me. With Teamviewer 13 I would have had to drive all the way back home to get my notebook ... or to schedule the work for another day and would have lost time for nothing ... just because the Teamviewer company suddenly cuts the rights of the licensed users.
Another example. As I said, normally I use only my one computer at home for my work. But in rare cases I might have to run an installer or Windows Update on a client machine and I want to watch the process, while being able in the same time to work on my computer. So I take my noteook and place it on the tabel, make a connection by Teamviewer (1 channel) and I might have a connection to my own server from my PC (1 channel). So in this moment I just 1 channel from 2 different devices. No problem in Teamviewer 12. NOT POSSIBLE IN TEAMVIEWER 13. It does not just limit your "licensed computers" to a number of 3, it also limits you to have channels only from 1 computer int he same time. Which ressources do I waste on the Teamviewer server using 2 computers? What is the difference to have 2 connections on 1 PC or 1 connection each on a PC and a notebook? Why don't you let ME decide HOW I WANT TO WORK ... instead of telling me how to work by cutting my abilities?
Am I the only person having this issue? Is there nobody using Teamviewer from different devices or from two devices in the same time? Yes, I know about Premium. Yes I know about Corporate. I'm a sole proprietor. I'm one single person, who has to own his money for living. I am not a company. I cannot afford 2.000 € for a remote software. I agreed to pay 200 € each year for the update. What more do you want from me? What more can you expect from me? If I can do all what I need without license, then let me continue doing this also as a licensed user. Comapnies who have enough money to really buy additional channels or a Premium or Corporate version will buy ti. Let them buy it. Butbeing alraedy an expensive software ... how much more can you squeeze a normal, single person ???
If Teamviewer is not thinking over this policy (13 is still beta, you have still time to make a U-turn), I will surely never buy any otehr upgrade. And if ever my Teamviewer 12 license will expire, I will look for an alternative solution. Or I will use Remote Desktop from Windows. But if you do this with your licensed users, you will not earn any more cent on me.
