PSA: Synergy 2.0 is terrible!

[Kryptyx]

I discovered Synergy, a program by Symless, through one of the ad spots on the LTT videos. It worked great, exactly as advertised and well worth the purchase. However, they've recently released a 2.0 version which removes a lot of functionality and even becomes completely unusable when their "auto-config" service is down - which happens very often. I have reached out to their support forums and found many other users complaining about this newer version as well. To make it worse, there is a $49 upgrade fee to go from 1.0 Pro to 2.0 Pro. The 1.0 version allowed you to configure hotkeys, remap keybinds, setup dead zones, start and stop the service and so much more while the new 2.0 version has literally zero options. The only way to stop the 2.0 program is to go into Window services and stop it. On a Mac, you need to run a shell command as root. I wouldn't have a problem if this was labeled as beta or if the upgrade was free but that isn't the case. To make it worse, there are many times when the new version cannot connect to their "auto-config" service which makes the program completely useless.

I know LMG takes its advertisers serious and I hope this will draw a little attention and save people money/hassle involved with the newer version. Stay away from the 2.0 and stick with 1.8.

[GoodBytes]

I am seeing many people complain here. (Note I don't work for LMG. I am just a moderator of the forum.)

 

I know you said you have a Mac. But for others that might read this, if all your PCs are Windows based (XP to 10), then checkout Microsoft free solution which does the same as Synergy, including encryption, easy setup, and copy & paste of files and text between PCs. It is called: Mouse Without Borders: https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/download/details.aspx?id=35460. Add yes, it works on UAC prompt as well, if you wondered.

 

That is just my recommendations (again, if all your system runs Windows).

Hope this helps for those who has this setup.

[Himmelsfeger]

I think the problem is, that the LMG is promoting a product which isn't stable and it could harm their reputation to continue to do so. At the moment they have videos up which tell the viewers to buy a broken product. (I myself was a beta tester for v2 and it was a mess)

[Kryptyx]

19 hours ago, GoodBytes said:

I am seeing many people complain here. (Note I don't work for LMG. I am just a moderator of the forum.)

 

I know you said you have a Mac. But for others that might read this, if all your PCs are Windows based (XP to 10), then checkout Microsoft free solution which does the same as Synergy, including encryption, easy setup, and copy & paste of files and text between PCs. It is called: Mouse Without Borders: https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/download/details.aspx?id=35460. Add yes, it works on UAC prompt as well, if you wondered.

 

That is just my recommendations (again, if all your system runs Windows).

Hope this helps for those who has this setup.

4

Thanks for the suggestion @GoodBytes! As you guessed though, I am using Synergy for the cross-platform functionality. Synergy 1.8 is still great but after being spammed with "Upgrade to Synergy 2.0 today!" nearly every day in my inbox I discovered the hard way that it is a mess. Even today I tried using 2.0 and the auto-config service was down again. To make it worse, their support is away until January 8th! I guess they like to take long vacations now that they charged all those upgrade fees...

Really hope LMG does a PSA on it if they are going to continue to support and advertise them.

[Guest]

I'm still annoyed they never came through with their commitment to upgrade S1 users to S2 for free (a few of us have screenshots w/ their support chat). I just keep getting sale spam. I guess I should consider it lucky that I didn't upgrade. I'm only annoyed because I bought S1 days before they announced the S2 beta sale. 

[Kryptyx]

Just a quick follow-up, the owner of the site moved my thread where I asked for help to off topic for "ranting". Even the mod on the forums knew I was looking for help...

 

Link to thread: https://symless.com/forums/topic/5043-please-tell-me-im-missing-something/

 

Extremely rude!

 

@nicklmg @LinusTech

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Kryptyx said:

Just a quick follow-up, the owner of the site moved my thread where I asked for help to off topic for "ranting". Even the mod on the forums knew I was looking for help...

 

Link to thread: https://symless.com/forums/topic/5043-please-tell-me-im-missing-something/

 

Extremely rude!

The off-topic section seems to be closed to outside viewers. It was probably moved there so it wasn't viewable to the public. I'd imagine that's where most things that make the software look bad go.

[Kryptyx]

8 hours ago, Legendarypoet said:

The off-topic section seems to be closed to outside viewers. It was probably moved there so it wasn't viewable to the public. I'd imagine that's where most things that make the software look bad go.

Wow, I didn't realize the off-topic section was for members only... That makes it even more shady. The entire section is filled with people complaining about the 2.0 release. This release seems like it's just a big money grab. They hide any thread exposing the 2.0 version for what it is. Really hope LMG can look into this. Get an account and read the threads for yourself.

 

@nicklmg

[AlTech]

On 12/28/2017 at 4:36 AM, GoodBytes said:

I am seeing many people complain here. (Note I don't work for LMG. I am just a moderator of the forum.)

 

I know you said you have a Mac. But for others that might read this, if all your PCs are Windows based (XP to 10), then checkout Microsoft free solution which does the same as Synergy, including encryption, easy setup, and copy & paste of files and text between PCs. It is called: Mouse Without Borders: https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/download/details.aspx?id=35460. Add yes, it works on UAC prompt as well, if you wondered.

 

That is just my recommendations (again, if all your system runs Windows).

Hope this helps for those who has this setup.

Do you know if the source code is available somewhere or is this proprietary?

[GoodBytes]

1 hour ago, AluminiumTech said:

Do you know if the source code is available somewhere or is this proprietary?

Mouse Without Borders is not open source. Synergy-Core is open source

[Satge]

On 27.12.2017 at 6:59 PM, Kryptyx said:

I discovered Synergy, a program by Symless, through one of the ad spots on the LTT videos. It worked great, exactly as advertised and well worth the purchase. However, they've recently released a 2.0 version which removes a lot of functionality and even becomes completely unusable when their "auto-config" service is down - which happens very often. I have reached out to their support forums and found many other users complaining about this newer version as well. To make it worse, there is a $49 upgrade fee to go from 1.0 Pro to 2.0 Pro. The 1.0 version allowed you to configure hotkeys, remap keybinds, setup dead zones, start and stop the service and so much more while the new 2.0 version has literally zero options. The only way to stop the 2.0 program is to go into Window services and stop it. On a Mac, you need to run a shell command as root. I wouldn't have a problem if this was labeled as beta or if the upgrade was free but that isn't the case. To make it worse, there are many times when the new version cannot connect to their "auto-config" service which makes the program completely useless.

I know LMG takes its advertisers serious and I hope this will draw a little attention and save people money/hassle involved with the newer version. Stay away from the 2.0 and stick with 1.8.

I hope to that LMG gets involved in this. The fact that you can't even turn it off in the App itself is so annoying. @LinusTech  @nicklmg

[Kryptyx]

I'm just more shocked by how unprofessional the owner has been.

[Kryptyx]

Are you guys serious with the Synergy ad spot in the Wan Show? Kind of disappointed.

[farmerrico1688]

Wished, I googled this thread before I but my card down at synergy... Been trying to get this program to work with a 3rd windows laptop with no information at all. 

 

Currently mouse and keyboard working with OSX and Windows. but to add another windows machine... Hopeless... Paid for the PRO Version can't get copy and paste to work... 

 

 

[Satge]

1 hour ago, farmerrico1688 said:

Wished, I googled this thread before I but my card down at synergy... Been trying to get this program to work with a 3rd windows laptop with no information at all. 

 

Currently mouse and keyboard working with OSX and Windows. but to add another windows machine... Hopeless... Paid for the PRO Version can't get copy and paste to work... 

 

 

Copy and paste doesn't work for me either

[ZibbeZabbe]

Yeah. I just got synergy 2 aswell. Is there even any settings? I cant find them. Also how do I even make the mouse feature work? So far I only have a window that does absolutely nothing.

 

 

Edit: For people who dont have synergy. This is all there is ATM. Atleast for me. I cant find any settings or anything. Keep in mind this is the first time I bought it. As I just got a new laptop

 

Edit2: Reboot got it working slightly. Most features dont work but mouse works.

[Kryptyx]

On 1/7/2018 at 11:56 AM, ZibbeZabbe said:

Yeah. I just got synergy 2 aswell. Is there even any settings? I cant find them. Also how do I even make the mouse feature work? So far I only have a window that does absolutely nothing.

 

 

Edit: For people who dont have synergy. This is all there is ATM. Atleast for me. I cant find any settings or anything. Keep in mind this is the first time I bought it. As I just got a new laptop

 

Edit2: Reboot got it working slightly. Most features dont work but mouse works.

This is exactly what I'm talking about. The auto-config service goes down randomly and just leaves the program completely useless... There are no configuration options. I don't know why LMG continues to push this...

@nicklmg

[79wjd]

On 1/7/2018 at 5:50 AM, farmerrico1688 said:

Wished, I googled this thread before I but my card down at synergy... Been trying to get this program to work with a 3rd windows laptop with no information at all. 

 

Currently mouse and keyboard working with OSX and Windows. but to add another windows machine... Hopeless... Paid for the PRO Version can't get copy and paste to work... 

 

 

Ask for a refund and if they refuse then contact your cc company. 

 

I'll plug for some LMG attention too -- if they get mentioned enough there's a good chance someone will actually see it. 

@nicklmg @LinusTech @Slick@CPotter

[Kryptyx]

I originally had this thread in General but it got moved to Software section, I just hope this gets enough attention to save people time and money. They offered a refund, I have to follow-up on that still. The money involved isn't the real issue for me, it's more so that they are pushing this as an upgrade when clearly it isn't. As a software developer myself, I can see what the long-term goal is. They are converting a local app to be cloud driven so that they can run it more like a SaaS application, which basically means they can charge you for "features" or "upgrades" over time. The problem is that this changes the communication layer. Before, you would have two or more networked applications communicating with each other directly on the same network. The new version sends input from your system to one of their cloud servers and then back down to the other clients. This means that if there is ever a connection failure between you and the internet or you and their servers, the application becomes useless. The other problem is that there is no way to configure anything or even start/stop the service within the UI. This is just sloppy and rushed so they could promote it throughout CES knowing they'll make a ton of money. I just cringe now when I see it promoted on LMG content because they are better than that.

For anyone thinking I'm just one angry customer ranting, please feel free to sign up for an account on their forums at https://symless.com/forums/ and see for yourself. Notice how the "off-topic" section requires membership to view and is filled with customer complaints regarding 2.0. The owner moves the threads here so they are no longer public...

[DaftBehemoth]

Add me to the list of people that REALLY should have checked the forum before my purchase of Synergy. What an absolutely abysmal program... ZERO configurable options. Zero options at all. There isn't even a simple start/stop button. You have to manually stop the service to get it to stop running on your system. That alone makes the software worthless to me, but the crappy attitude of Nick Bolton, CEO of Symless, on the Synergy forum is the nail in the coffin. He refuses to answer simple, uninflammatory questions on the matter and instead immediately gets snippy and defensive. He'd rather point to the refund option rather than answer a simple question or address a user's concern. VERY disappointed. 

 

I don't mean to raise pitchforks, but this REALLY took me by surprise. The LTT team should really consider looking into this. As it stands, I'm going to try my luck at refunding. @nicklmg @LinusTech @CPotter @Slick

[CPotter]

Looking into this immediately.

[Synergy Team]

@DaftBehemoth Thanks for trying Synergy 2 Beta. Would it be ok for you to contact us so we can help? We recommend that people use Synergy 1 instead as it's more stable and configurable. If you need a refund, that's absolutely fine. We want to ensure that all of our customers are happy. Thanks!

[nicklmg]

37 minutes ago, Nick Bolton said:

Today I received news from @CPotter that @LinusTech has decided to stop advertising Synergy 2 because of this thread.

I'd like to clarify our side here.

 

What was said in the email that we sent over earlier today was that we are putting our current sponsorship plans with Synergy on hold until the issues that have been brought up by our community are resolved.

 

We still believe in the product and what the company is doing, but a recent wave of feedback from the community has shown that there are some rough spots with Synergy 2 that need to be ironed out. As such, and as a business that serves a significant community with recommendations based on the trust that that community places in us, the only appropriate action is to hold off on promoting Synergy 2 until it is in a state that is satisfactory to our community.

This decision is NOT solely a result of this single thread. It is a result of multiple dedicated threads created on this forum, multiple comments in threads on this forum and on our videos, multiple direct messages received by members of our team on this forum, and multiple emails sent to both public-facing and private email addresses for our team.

 

 

So, to be explicitly clear... This is not the end of Linus Tech Tips working with Symless and Synergy. It is a temporary hold on any promotion until issues with the new software have been resolved to the satisfaction of our community.

[Synergy Team]

We're looking forward to developing the next major version of Synergy, after learning some very important lessons from Synergy 2 Beta. The new version will be far more stable and contain advanced configuration options while still being easy to use for novice customers. Please let us know directly if you need help or have any feedback. Thanks!

[ZibbeZabbe]

Getting access to synergy 1 really helped my issues, it was a bit harder to set up which really made me appreciate how easy synergy 2 was to set up but synergy 2 really needs more work. @Nick Bolton

 

One problem is scaling it seems. Here I have a laptop using a 1440p screen running at 150% scale and here I have my main PC running 1080p with 125% scale (it runs on a TV now a days, window was bigger when I ran 100% on my monitor). Not to mention that I cant seem to find a way to intuitively remove old PCs from my client. I changed both my PCs names (recently found out I could) and now they have duplicates. The only real ones in that picture are the O5-* ones (active). Honestly though with the inclusion of Synergy 1 with purchase of Synergy 2 I think i would actually go back to personally recommending it. I had to reinstall the Synergy thing in services.msc a few times before it took hold on my main PC but that sais more about my janky-ass PC setup.

 

OH YEAH! one big thing. I cant play FPS games with synergy turned on. Because it tries to switch the cursor to the other display and that removes focus from the game bringing me back to my desktop. So a setting to disable synergy when running fullscreen applications would be really good to have. Sure it would break synergy while running fullscreen youtube but thats a tradeoff I would be willing to do (maybe add an option to allow specific fullscreen applications to run along side synergy, preferably user selected, like youtubes player, media player and possibly some select games)

 

 

So short summary, Scaling, removing of old connections and an actual settings menu in Synergy 2 would be nice.

 

 

Anyway, running Synergy 1 now and so far I prefer it but then again, I am not most people and most people probably prefer the easy setup of Synergy 2

 

Ill be sending this post to the email Nick Bolton mentioned aswell because I am not sure if he browses the forum.

 

 

Edit: I got a response on email.

 

Quote

We’re adding a disable feature very soon (probably in the next version due in a few weeks). However it could be a few months before we can fix the scaling issues.

 

We’re also adding a remove screen feature right now for the next version (due this week), and a settings screen will follow in Synergy 2.1 which is due in a few months.

 

I would take this with a bit of salt as from what little I know of development is that things rarely go as planned and I would await a more official announcement.

It makes me really happy as Synergy is really something I do use on my laptop and MediaPC