Strange, I've got a washing machine and a dryer from Bosch. Never had a single problem with them. All the appliances (oven dishwasher, cooking plate) at the apartment were Bosch also. The fridge was a Zanussi, but mainly because Bosch didn't have one that fit. In the new kitchen, everything is Siemens, but that's basically the same.

I would bet on bad luck. We do tend to get the high-end (most expensive) versions, though.

Also, scumbag repairmen tend to do exactly that. I had exactly this happen on a problem with my spanking brand new boiler. The crap the guy spewed. I got the guys from warranty and they knew what they did. Never calling that repair guy ever again.

I occasionally use the Linux client to support (very) remote laptop users at our company. I run Linux, they either run Windows or OS X. Works fine. It feels a bit like a wine recompile, but it does the job just fine.

I can totally understand you like the service. It seems it's worth something to you, right? Wouldn't the logical step then to get a LogMeIn subscription and become a happy customer?

Thanks... I've been shaking my head in disbelief ever since I started reading the replies. Perhaps it's finally time to kick my slashdot habit. Thank you, and every one else who isn't painting me as a raving lunatic.

Easier? That's in the eye of the beholder. I think it's easy, as ssh is part of my daily work routine any way.

If you think remembering port numbers is so hard, you have totally totally overlooked that I said that Remmina does this for you. You don't need to specify a single port in there (assuming you use the default ones). Just fill in your ssh server and the name of the remote machine, set what resolution you like. Done.

Is it a nicely packaged solution? No! Does it work and is it relatively secure. Yes.

s/game/gamers/g

You say they (games) are important to the PC industry. In sales? I doubt so. That's why I brought it up.

Hearing incessant nagging about hardware/software not working is not my idea of happiness. Hence the iMac. To each his own.

... and others have said TeamViewer can do the always-on scenario too. I didn't know. I never used that feature.

Of course... That falls under the tech support scenario? From what I understood, the AC was complaining about it not being always-on. If you follow the thread, I never said I didn't understand the tech-support scenario. Hell, I admitted I have my own infrastructure to do such things.

Ok, I see.

My wife learned quickly it was wiser to listen to me regarding technology. Different temperaments. We can't fix our wives, eh?

If you have a server ssh-accessible, you don't need any of that.

ssh -L 3389:wifes-computer:3389 myserver.no-ip.com

Now you have a tunnel going from localhost:3389 to the wifes-computer, going over myserver.no-ip.com. This means you point your RDP client to localhost and you magically connect.

Clients like Reminna can do this all from the interface.

Nothing is exposed, except for the server and only the ssh daemon. Everything is nicely encrypted. My example was for RDP, but you can do VNC too by using 5900 instead.

I have a hard time understanding why you would want to access a desktop machine at home. Isn't that by definition a security nightmare, especially with less clued-in users? However, if that's your thing, why not shell out for the Pro version of everyone favourite Windows version? Comes with RDP.

It's not for tech support? A cursory glance at their website told me that. Instead of calling me a fuckwit, what about just telling me why I'm wrong? That would actually be useful, for those like me who thought it's used for remote tech support.

Ok, fair point. That's where you step in and make sure she buys superior products instead. That way you're not tech support for people any more.