This is my review after trying ChunkVNC (UltraVNC variant) with the Windows & Linux "Repeater" software addon for traversing NAT/Firewalls. Best of all, this solution is OSS / GPL too! There is even a Teamviewer style list manager addon for ChunkVNC that works quite well, albeit very simple.
One advantage with ChunkVNC over Screen Connect is that you can drop the Perl script for the UltraVNC repeater on a Linux based Shared Hosting server. The advantage to this vs running the repeater on Windows is that it allows the unattended VNC clients to connect via FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name) without being tied to your remote viewer PC (via dynamic IP or DDNS); plus, unattended clients can stay connected to the repeater indefinitely, whereas a bug in ChunkVNC prevents the Windows Repeater from working reliably in that scenario (although there is a workaround for this).
Of course, ScreenConnect is a much more mature and robust solution, but the server is limited to only running on Windows for the relay / repeater. Also, if you are planning on rolling out SC across many hosts running Windows XP, it will be quite cumbersome. Even though the Screen Connect ClientSetup.exe is only about 1.2MB, Windows XP Pro SP3 requires a bunch of prerequisite software not included with Windows such as .NET 2.0 and updated Windows Installer packages, etc.
In comparison to Screen Connect, one major advantage of ChunkVNC is that it's super lightweight. It includes a wizard that custom compiles into a 1MB InstantSupport.exe file that you distribute to all the PCs you want to control remotely. In a single click, InstantSupport installs the VNC server, allows it to run unattended as a Windows service and automatically phones home to the ChunkVNC Repeater / Remote Viewer. All with only 1MB file size; no .NET bloatware or running through a web browser — just a simple self contained, portable app!
In the end, I decided to go with Screen Connect because it was too cumbersome and clunky dealing with the idiosyncrasies of ChunkVNC + Repeater + Client List Management addons for my particular needs.
There are, however, more polished "VNC wrapper" solutions out there for only $30 / year (unlimited) that use ChunkVNC + Repeater and add a mature Teamviewer style, client list management interface. See for example: http://remote-control-desktop.com
I have no affiliation with the above company nor have I purchased their software, but for those not wanting to mess around with compiling VNC and hacking it together to traverse NAT/firewalls with a TeamViewer type interface, and for those not wanting to deal with some of the aforementioned limitations and massiveness of ScreenConnect; it is a viable alternative...
This post is just my way of giving back and saying thanks to the community for working on amazing projects like this!
~ Thanks Again
