2016 is just around the corner and now is that traditional moment we always seize to predict what’s next, as well as to sum up what we’ve seen this year. Fortunately, the remote desktop industry hasn’t experienced any fundamental disturbances in 2015. However, there are five key industry trends that we at Techinline would like to highlight in this post and share with our users.
No more free versions
This is actually a multi-year trend rather than something specific to 2015. However, several remote desktop vendors have either discontinued or toughened the use of their free versions in 2015. The vendors are more inclined to monitoring and limiting access when they see their free product being used for non-personal needs. This means that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to utilize the remaining handful of free remote desktop products for commercial or everyday use.
Increased subscription & upgrade prices
From what we’ve seen in IT pros’ discussions, several well-known remote desktop software providers significantly raised their upgrade and subscription prices in 2015, which means less flexibility, more customer dissatisfaction (at a moderate level, though) and increasing competition on the market. We expect this trend to continue in 2016.
Windows tablets on the rise
Until the launch of Windows 10 and the introduction of Surface Pro, Microsoft seemed to have no clear prospects on the mobile device market, with Android dominating the market thanks to a wide range of its low-tier offerings, and Apple’s iOS occupying the high end segment. The latest version of Microsoft OS, however, is just the push the company needs to spur its growth on the tablet market. According to a recent report from IDC, Windows’ market share is estimated to almost double in the upcoming years, from 8.4 percent to 17.5 percent by 2019. For the remote desktop industry this trend implies a continuing adaptation to the growing numbers and needs of Windows mobile customers in 2016.
End of Windows XP support
Released more than fourteen years ago, Windows XP still occupies a somewhat solid market share of 11.68 percent today, being 1 percent ahead of Windows 8.1, according to VentureBeat. However, given the rise of Windows 10 along with Microsoft’s decision to abandon the outdated versions of its OS, some software vendors have been discontinuing their support of Windows XP this year, and we expect that the remote desktop industry is going to be no exception in the near future.
RATs and Scams
Security and privacy issues have always been the downside of technology. While software vendors struggle to make their products more secure and educate end users, cyber criminals come up with more sophisticated methods to capture users’ data and find new loopholes. Remote Access Trojans (or RAT) that allow hackers to remotely control an infected computer are here to stay, though they can easily be detected and cured before any serious damage is done. Educating end users and, thus, eliminating possible confusion among them has already proven to be effective.
Another serious threat to data privacy is posed by “tech support” scammers, which utilize remote desktop tools to get access to users’ information. Scamming techniques have gotten more sophisticated in 2015, but on the bright side criminals do not often bother changing their schemes, enabling software vendors and IT professionals to share valuable information about scammers in order to prevent any future attacks. Read more about Techinline’s experience in fighting “Microsoft support” scams and check out our tips on how to avoid becoming their victim here.