Free users limited access to old versions

TobiasB
TobiasB Posts: 2
edited May 2023 in General questions

When reading https://community.teamviewer.com/t5/Announcements/Updating-to-the-latest-and-greatest-version-of-TeamViewer/td-p/49692 I'm worried, what this means for free users needing to access older OS versions like Mac OS X 10.6 where the max. availabe TeamViewer version is 9 according to https://community.teamviewer.com/t5/Knowledge-Base/Which-operating-systems-are-supported/ta-p/24141 - Will it not be possible to connect from TV 14 to TV 9 after June 18th, 2019?

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Answers

  • Dear Esther,

    thanks for your reply and clarification. As you may imagine, there are reasons why the device in question is still on 10.6 and will remain at that version. Will I'm able to buy a license for TV9 after the cut-off date? Otherwise I'll have to look for an alternative solution. Can anybody of the community recommend a software that still supports controlling 10.6 from a modern OS?

    Best,

    Tobias

  • GavDaniels
    GavDaniels Posts: 15 ✭✭

    I don’t think I have read a bigger load of **bleep** in my life!

    Teeamviewer have disabled V9 support purely because it was the last perpetual licence version before they moved to the monthly subscription model in V10. 

    There are corporate and MSP that paid $3k plus for the perpetual licences and are still using them rather than paying $2k per year for less features. 

    They could easily continue support for the V9 host services in the latest version remotes, but customer support is secondary to revenue streams.

    Something they have needed for MANY YEARS is a proper MSP pricing model.

    And even Apple understand that while they have upgrades for the operating systems, there are specifics as to why people need to run older versions. It would be to do with specific application or hardware compatibility. And while people can say that a new computer can be under $1k, if it is connected to a specific instrument worth over $50k and newer hardware doesn’t support ISA cards, GPIB interfaces or alike, you stay with older.

    Be honest in the reasons. It’s about the revenue your not collecting.

  • tv4dje
    tv4dje Posts: 1

    Im considering going the Open-Source way...as then there'll be no limits because of greediness from TVs side ;) ...like **Third Party Product** or **Third Party Product**. (and they even dont want us to inform people of other choices who use it for private only and who does NOT want to pay for a service we can get for free...they removed the '**Third Party Product**' ;)

    TV was great as long as it lasted...luckily there are others who can take their place..little more setup but that's fine as the price is right ;)

  • MacMedix
    MacMedix Posts: 1

    There is a lot of old Mac hardware still running daily that is not capable of running an OSX newer than 10.6, and a TeamViewer higher than v9.

    When I signed in today to my mother's old iMac my TeamViewer 14 told me I needed to update her TV from 9 to 14. But that is not possible to do!

    Even worse, my TeamViewer 14 disconnected me from her after 5 minutes, then banned a reconnection for a few minutes. It was very clear about this.  I do appreciate being told the rules (5 minute limit, then no new connections for a few minutes). But since it is not possible to upgrade her TV9 to anything newer, because it is not possible to upgrade her iMac's OS to anything newer than OSX 10.6.x, the effect is that I am now under great pressure to help quickly before TV14 disconnects me off. As if speaking with your 87 year old mother about computer issues could be sucessfully rushed.

    So even though TeamViewer 9 has worked perfectly on her old Mac, the TeamViewer company is now limiting connections to 5 minutes before disconnecting. Ruining helpful software that worked perfectly seems like a very sad political decision, not a functional decision. I tried reverting to TV13, 12, & 11, but all of those versions gave me a 5 minute limit of helping time before disconnect. TeamViewer is no longer backwards compatible with older computers, as it used to be. Very sad day.

    Since TeamViewer is now preventing us from helping folks with older computers, we'll need to figure out something with VNC instead.

  • GavDaniels
    GavDaniels Posts: 15 ✭✭

    Hey, I feel your pain,

    But this is not a policitcal decision, it is a purely financial decision.

    They could easily have the older V9 hosts and alike that are registered to an account with a paid licence be allowed to bypass the 5 minute window, and have non registered accounts time out.

    Another case of the desire for more money driving the business. Because all clients register with their servers, they can see how many people connect with each version, and see the number of connetions that they are not returning a revenue stream for.

    I'd be sure one of their technical people probably raised the idea of allowing longer for registered hosts, but got shot down because the bean counters looked at the $$$

    I am also looking for a solution which will be less than the $2kAUD they will want from me next year.

     

  • zaphod77
    zaphod77 Posts: 1

    This needs to be fixed.

    there are times where i NEED a longer than 5 minute connection to an older device to help the poor person who cant' update their OS.

    This is completely unfair. 

    PLEASE put in an exception that allows people to connect to old versions if the os does not support the latest.

     

  • EmilV
    EmilV Posts: 5

    @GavDaniels 

    Teeamviewer have disabled V9 support purely because it was the last perpetual licence version before they moved to the monthly subscription model in V10. 

    This is simply wrong information, i have the perpetual 10 version, version 11 and 12 was also for ever.

  • Erathos
    Erathos Posts: 1

    @ESTER 

    No update possible after v9 for my remote computer (macOs 10.7.5). I find this planned obsolescence policy absolutely shameful and discourage me to continue using or promoting Teamviewer. Five minutes connection under persistent alerts  equal zero connectivity. Please explain to me why I am wrong by using old but healthy computer. How can managers shoot themselves in their feet at this point !

  • dkamgje
    dkamgje Posts: 1

    Do you mean "forever" like in version 9?


    @EmilV wrote:

    @GavDaniels 

    Teeamviewer have disabled V9 support purely because it was the last perpetual licence version before they moved to the monthly subscription model in V10. 

    This is simply wrong information, i have the perpetual 10 version, version 11 and 12 was also for ever.


     

  • How about giving some people at least the chance to subscribe for 1 month and not force them to pay for 1 year if they need to connect to computers that use older TV version just a few times per year?

  • Xeta
    Xeta Posts: 1

    Well they seem to have finally killed any pre-14 versions from connecting now, as my device (which CANNOT be updated) running 13.2.14327 just gives "unable to connect, reason unknown" to a computer it's connected to periodically for literal years (and for some months before this has been timing out after a few minutes then preventing reconnection).

    I'm going around to all the business clients I advise and switching them to a different rdp setup now. This is completely unacceptable practices from a company I used to trust. Hope losing close to $15,000/yr across all my clients was worth screwing private users!

    (I'd mention what I'm swapping them to but it'll just get censored. There's a lot more options these days compared to when TV was the only good+reliable one. I only stuck with it this long out of habit and familiarity.)

  • rscheuerer
    rscheuerer Posts: 5 ✭✭

    Curious if you have come across any better solutions this problem than TV yet. My mom has the same situation. Would be happy to dump TV just for their choice to handle users like this

    Rich

  • Owen72
    Owen72 Posts: 3 ✭✭

    Its the same now with TV15 vs TV14 while its not possible to update to 15 on older windows version. Its a shame