deebee Posted January 21, 2015 Posted January 21, 2015 Is this completely dead now? Not seen any updates since the first release of 8 (8.0.0.1) which was.. almost 2 years ago.
halbaradkenafin Posted January 21, 2015 Posted January 21, 2015 Is this completely dead now? Not seen any updates since the first release of 8 (8.0.0.1) which was.. almost 2 years ago. As I recall they were bought out by RM.
fiza Posted January 21, 2015 Posted January 21, 2015 In short yes. RM have basically stopped developing it, no investment, no sales or marketing effort. We are removing it and going back to vanilla windows and doing everything with Group Policy. Looking at Impero but its way too expensive.
deebee Posted January 21, 2015 Author Posted January 21, 2015 (edited) They were indeed bought out, but given the product page is still sat active on RM's site and that RM want to keep billing us for upgrade-rights for new versions.. I had kind of expected there might be a new version at some point. Edit: Perhaps its just RM gouging schools for money to keep upgrade-rights on something they will never ever actually provide an upgrade for. Sigh. Edited January 21, 2015 by deebee
fiza Posted January 21, 2015 Posted January 21, 2015 They were indeed bought out, but given the product page is still sat active on RM's site and that RM want to keep billing us for upgrade-rights for new versions.. I had kind of expected there might be a new version at some point. We stopped paying last year. We purchased through a support company who basically said that they couldn't support it anymore as they were not getting any decent support from RM for the product and that no new releases were planned so upgrade protection seemed pointless. The Rangersuite.com website seems to be dead and I cant get on the Ranger Forum site anymore. Time to move on.
Oaktech Posted January 21, 2015 Posted January 21, 2015 If it isn't it should be... I would start looking at your options to move towards a vanilla system. The winds of change they are a blowing, and not in the direction of 3rd party tools like RM.
fiza Posted January 21, 2015 Posted January 21, 2015 Although I wont miss Ranger for Networks I will miss the ability to stop students logging on more than once. Haven't found another way to prevent this which doesn't cost a packet.
deebee Posted January 21, 2015 Author Posted January 21, 2015 We'll definitely not be giving RM another penny towards it in any way now. But it does have some redeeming features (multiple logins as stated by fiza above is one, along with the console running on the server showing what everyone is doing). I guess we will indeed be going back to vanilla as soon as I get a chance to do some configuration and testing for it. Impero was discussed here but given the high cost (we're a small school with declining numbers) we decided it was a little out of our reach.
MattDLEA Posted January 21, 2015 Posted January 21, 2015 @fiza I have it in both my schools, got it when I didn't know much about networking but to move the schools away from the clutches of RM, then Ranger got bought out a few months after We to are looking at moving to a vanilla network. Ranger proves that you dont need CC3/4 to work and I think the next logical step is to move to just windows
Oaktech Posted January 21, 2015 Posted January 21, 2015 Although I wont miss Ranger for Networks I will miss the ability to stop students logging on more than once. Haven't found another way to prevent this which doesn't cost a packet. Does HAP not provide this function somewhere?
fiza Posted January 21, 2015 Posted January 21, 2015 Does HAP not provide this function somewhere? Never looked at HAP+. Isnt it for Remote Access?
LeMarchand Posted January 21, 2015 Posted January 21, 2015 Although I wont miss Ranger for Networks I will miss the ability to stop students logging on more than once. Haven't found another way to prevent this which doesn't cost a packet. Don't know if this still works: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2005.05.utilityspotlight.aspx
fiza Posted January 21, 2015 Posted January 21, 2015 Don't know if this still works: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2005.05.utilityspotlight.aspx I tried that a few years ago on another schools network. Never got it to work.
hardtailstar Posted January 21, 2015 Posted January 21, 2015 Glad we didn't go with this last year! We looked into it and only pulled out because of money needing to be spent elsewhere.
fairm010 Posted January 21, 2015 Posted January 21, 2015 Never looked at HAP+. Isnt it for Remote Access? HAP is for remote access yes but there is also a small program called HAP+ Logon Tracker which is installed on every PC, run a Startup, Logon, Logoff and shutdown script which writes back to an SQL DB. Use it here to prevent more than one logon andit works great! 1
SHimmer45 Posted January 21, 2015 Posted January 21, 2015 still using ranger on V8 on 2012R2. still nice for doing realtime monitoring and the reporting is good. package roll out still has a place, does very little gpo for us any more. it is an old product which we have pretty much stopped using all of its features but still has some nice bits and pieces which can be setup quickly. its from a time when MS interfaces very painful at times and helped smooth the way for learning network admins havent paid for support for a while and as other have said its pretty much dead imo.
fiza Posted January 21, 2015 Posted January 21, 2015 HAP is for remote access yes but there is also a small program called HAP+ Logon Tracker which is installed on every PC, run a Startup, Logon, Logoff and shutdown script which writes back to an SQL DB. Use it here to prevent more than one logon andit works great! Can you have the Logon Tracker without installing the remote access bit?
fairm010 Posted January 21, 2015 Posted January 21, 2015 Yes, I think you'll need to have it installed although you don't actually have to use it. Just stick it on an IIS server if you can.
Oaktech Posted January 21, 2015 Posted January 21, 2015 HAP is for remote access yes but there is also a small program called HAP+ Logon Tracker which is installed on every PC, run a Startup, Logon, Logoff and shutdown script which writes back to an SQL DB. Use it here to prevent more than one logon andit works great! That's the puppy... We used it for about 20 minutes before the staff complained and we had to stop using it. Worked a treat.
fairm010 Posted January 21, 2015 Posted January 21, 2015 That's the puppy... We used it for about 20 minutes before the staff complained and we had to stop using it. Worked a treat. Our staff were told "Tough Bresticles" as more than one login was messing with our custom behaviour tracker.
fiza Posted January 27, 2015 Posted January 27, 2015 Is this completely dead now? Not seen any updates since the first release of 8 (8.0.0.1) which was.. almost 2 years ago. I spoke with RM at the BETT show and all indications are that Ranger is no more.
SHimmer45 Posted January 27, 2015 Posted January 27, 2015 still being advertised on the RM site currently, i wonder if this will continue to be the case
fiza Posted January 27, 2015 Posted January 27, 2015 The guy told me that he couldnt officially confirm it as no official decision has been made but the writing was on the wall.
m25man Posted January 27, 2015 Posted January 27, 2015 Ranger was dead as soon as RM bought it. They thought by buying it they could keep CC in business for years to come. What they failed to foresee was that the technically enabled using the Internet and sites like Edugeek would eventually master the native toolsets and make their products obsolete. In my years past I've seen the schools IT technicians and NMs evolve from press ganged teaching staff and amateur bodgers into highly skilled and knowledgable professionals who's skill sets in many cases far exceeds those of their peers in commerce. We stopped installing products like Ranger in 2009. GPOs and SCCM have replaced almost everything that Ranger/CC/CSE etc etc did and to be honest I can't believe anyone is still using these products!
halbaradkenafin Posted January 28, 2015 Posted January 28, 2015 Ranger was dead as soon as RM bought it. They thought by buying it they could keep CC in business for years to come. What they failed to foresee was that the technically enabled using the Internet and sites like Edugeek would eventually master the native toolsets and make their products obsolete. In my years past I've seen the schools IT technicians and NMs evolve from press ganged teaching staff and amateur bodgers into highly skilled and knowledgable professionals who's skill sets in many cases far exceeds those of their peers in commerce. We stopped installing products like Ranger in 2009. GPOs and SCCM have replaced almost everything that Ranger/CC/CSE etc etc did and to be honest I can't believe anyone is still using these products! They are great for the staff who are press ganged into doing it because they know a little about computers, especially at schools where they can't afford (or don't need) a dedicated IT person. Of course the counter to that is that most LAs have an IT service that can provide the school with a part time tech who goes around a few schools, I've even seen it done by a secondary school offering the service to feeder schools for "free" (at least financially free but there is certainly an expectation that most of the pupils will attend that secondary school in future).
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