Ever wish you could just take over your Mom’s computer when she calls you with a PC problem? A free peer-to-peer app called CrossLoop lets you do just that, acting like one of those pricey, help-desk applications used by corporate IT departments. You have to first download it to both your PC and your Mom’s and then when it is launched you can remotely see whatever is on her desktop and take it over to fix it from 3,000 miles away.
The eight-person startup just raised $3 million in an A-Round led by El Dorado Ventures (which is also an investor in Coghead). CrossLoop’s P2P app has quietly gained a following among the do-it-yourself tech support crowd (it only works on a PC currently, but Mac and Linux versions are coming). “CrossLoop is for both family and businesses” says co-founder Mrinal Desai. The company says it has 300,000 users worldwide who have collectively used the application for more than 12 million minutes of desktop sharing. The first million minutes took 154 days to accumulate. The last million took only 11 days.
Today CrossLoop is also launching a redesigned site that comes with free accounts for anyone who wants to make a business out of CrossLoop, or just share their expertise. The profile page shows how many sessions you’ve had on CrossLoop, along with comments and ratings from the people you’ve helped (or whose computers you’ve messed up, depending on your skill). You can watch a demo video on YouTube.
The idea is that IT consultants could use these profile pages to build a reputation. And it is not just for help desk issues. You could use CrossLoop for remote training on applications like, Wordpress, PhotoShop or Final Cut Pro, really anything where you have to show someone how to do something on a computer. After every session, the person you helped can rate you and comment on the session from inside the CrossLoop app. That information then gets automatically updated to your profile. There is also a widget you can put on your own Website or blog that updates your CrossLoop stats as well.
Nice app.
So, it’s VNC + social network?
http://www.yout...feature=related
Gary Kildall smoked dope!
Check out the hot tub scene in this video I uploaded, it’s 1:00 minute into the youtube vid. Jim Warren says so. I wonder if Tom did too at DRC.
BTW, this app is actually just a GUI on top of FOSS VNC. The gui just controls VNC via the shell. There used to be a disclaimer on the website about the GPL license. Either that or they licensed one, but that’s what it used to be.
http://www.flic...zer/1023695817/
Here are the photos Scoble took of CrossLoop’s place.
They still use VNC underneath, and this page answers the questions about licensing:
http://www.cros...page.htm?id=vnc
The problem with VNC is that you have to deal with firewalls, etc… The CrossLoop interface makes this incredibly easy for regular people.
So if I have this straight, there’s a social network which allows you to make contact with someone else’s mom and “help” her with her PC while you install keylogger software.
You can offer the service for free, get good ratings, and then raid her home-banking site later?
Is that about right? Cool!
VNC works great……I don’t see the point of this..
Isn’t this built into the operating system now?
Our support staff use it a lot with customers and it’s excellent. Very easy for customers to download and use, and we can fix their problems very quickly, often more quickly than emails and phone calls.
Why would I work for free? I have enough faults to fix at work already. Ever heard of MSN remote assistance?
So the guys at Crossloop and El Dorado, all these people are just doing this out of the goodness of their hearts? Where’s the money side of this venture?
“VNC works great……I don’t see the point of this..”
“(it only works on a PC currently, but Mac and Linux versions are coming).”
Red hat already has a VNC gui.
System->Preferences->Remote Desktop
Don’t you think Linux and Mac users are going to laugh this thing off their respective application maps?
It just feels like an incredibly cheap idea. Tunneling VNC with a little GUI then trying to make mad cash off of it. I’m sitting here hacking the kernel for our app. This seems like the kind of app you make in a couple hours. Maybe it’s just me? I expected more out of the guys who made the first PCDOS?
Boy, they’re really trying to cram in the buzzwords. Peer to peer? Of course it’s peer to peer! It’s freakin’ VNC, what else would it be. Everybody share the screen of Crossloop’s web server? And the accounts/social network thing is pointless. Do you really want to go on some website and give a random stranger (even one with “good ratings”) access to your computer? Like #6 Alex says, it’s a dream for guys with keyloggers.
It may be a very useful product; I haven’t tried it. But the whole thing sounds pretty much like Fogcreek Copilot, but with extra Web 2.0 buzzword goodness built-in! Since they got funded, I guess that part has worked very well.
At first glance I thought this as a good idea. Then, I thought, this is just another identity theft tool for white collar criminals. Before I use this, I am interested in how they will handle this issue. I like the idea, but I am extremely concerned. I had a computer tech fix a computer of mine only to find out he embedded spyware into my operating system to try to rip me off later. How will CrossLoop stop these guys from taking advantage of the novice user?
And Erick, can TC please stop repeating these meaningless metrics from the companies’ PR department? Total minutes of desktop sharing? Are they going to charge by the minute? This is not a phone company. This is not McDonald’s where each of the 10 billion burgers sold brings in revenue. It’s just like the travel site a while ago (forgot the name) that touted how many millions of total miles of travel their users had uploaded. Impressive sounding but completely empty. The 300,000 users in ~6 months gives us a much better idea of CrossLoop’s actual market uptake.
CrossLoop saved me hours of driving to my parents house to fix their computer. Thanks!
I am yet to check out CrossLoop but what I think many of these comments are overlooking is that not everyone is tech saavy or knows how to use VNC or RD.
If CrossLoop is simple-r then an alternative (and secure) then its a cool app.
Innovation is sometimes defined as: simply doing something better.
I guess there’s a rumor circulating around this morning that Tim Patterson is also making a comeback with a similar product called “XLoop360″, and that Bill Gates has expressed interest in aquiring the wholesale rights to it, but is willing to let people choose between the free-er than free, you get paid to use it XLoop360 and simply free CrossLoop.
It will be a riveting competition…
What about security / vulnerabilities from this??
Great app but what are the business potential applications for IT people and SEO/SEM/eMarketers? I can see that you get to show off how cool you are and how you’ve helped so many, but is that in a business by itself? I don’t fully understand but I’m interested in the monetization ideas to this for the investors and owners of the company as well as the users. If a WebEx platform is given to desktop help and maintenance and this allows further developments in WebOS apps, the world may soon see Web 3.0 (already emerging, really) followed by 4.0, where Web 4.0 is considered the Web as Operating System.
This is what LogMeIn has been doing, few ’social’, ‘widget’ and other features added. http://www.logmein.com/
For professional usage I would recommend
http://www.techinline.com
Techinline perfectly fits small/medium business needs. And it is incredibly easy to use! Our clients need just a few seconds to join our support sessions. It is fantastic!
I’ve used it before – it’s awesome. The biggest problem with normal remote desktop software is the “open a port on your firewall, do this, check that, what’s your IP address? you don’t know? go to run > command and blah blah”.
With CrossLoop you say, “Install Crossloop. Start a session. What’s the name and password it gives you?” Bam, it works – no firewall configurations, no IP address, nothing.
If you don’t appreciate this, you have to try offering tech support to dumber people – then it pays off in spades. “What web browser are you using?” “It’s Verizon.” Now try to explain to that person he needs to log into his router’s firewall and configure some port forwarding.
If I sound a little emphatic about this, it’s because CrossLoop has made my life so much easier.
To Chris R.
Business is the act of exploiting innovation. The fact that these guys came up with a way to exploit an existing (and essentially freely available) innovation means they they are simply good business people. If you think its easy or merit less, why not do the same thing? Go for it. Put something simple together and get someone to hand you a check for $3 Million dollars
To the tech people: vnc is so not user friendly and ‘tech based’ the average user (people in business) dont know how to use it, and the same goes for the average person.
A simple user friendly application to do this has a market.
Yes i use vnc, i’ve been consulting on remote servers for a few years now and used a bunch of methods, but not one i could say to a client, hey go an install this.
for vnc, rdc etc i need a tech on the clients end to do an initial setup.
We all know where debenture capital leads. Loss of power by the founders -> loss of employees -> loss of service quality -> and so son…
TeamViewer (a german remote desktop program) offers a free version for private users (no limitations) but requires a commercial licence fpr business users. Therefore it is able to offer both, high quality service (w/o debenture capital) and an amazing product free for private users.
TeamViewer itself claims to have 3.000.000 Users. How do you think they would be supported, without raising money by their own product…
No doubt, crossloop is a nice program. I just dont “trust” companies which are not able to raise their own money.
http://www.teamviewer.com
Steffen:
So you don’t trust any publicly held company (Google, Cisco, General Electric) or any company that has taken a dime from anyone else?
Hmmm, so if I am using teamviewer and they receive any money from anyone, I should stop trusting them.
Makes complete sense.
Is this similar to PC Anywhere by Symantec?.
Nat
http://www.workersinc.com
Hi all. CrossLoop here.
Thanks for all the comments! We love feedback and are constantly trying to improve our product. We want to simplify desktop screen sharing so it’s super simple for everyone to use. We want to encourage friends helping friends, and family members supporting each other in addition to enabling IT support professionals to serve their clients. CrossLoop is about putting people in touch with their trusted contacts to solve their computer problems and to receive training. CrossLoop shrinks distances – between countries and between those who have and do not have technical expertise. In the process, we reduce our carbon footprint!
Quite simply, we want to make it easier to get help when you need it. And we want to help make the web a safer place.
Our V2.0 release is the first of many improvements we hope to bring our users.
I love Crossloop! I’ve been using them for a long time now – perhaps almost since their initial release. It is a great service and extremely simple. Unlike so many other programs the install is small and quick and easy to understand. I’ve used this to support individuals for work as well as friends and family – no matter who it is its easy and pain free. This company may very well revolutionize the way we perform tech support as they continue to offer an awesome product that outpaces expensive clunkers like WebEx, GoToMyPC, and LogMeIn.
How is it “outpacing the clunkers” ?
By not having the features, of course. LOL
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