CrossLoop Further Enhances Screen Sharing and Online Collaboration

It is always good to see excellent applications. It is even better to watch excellent applications that are progressing. We talked about CrossLoop, the application intended to share your computer's screen with another CrossLoop user back in November. Now it is time to update you on this great service because today they are releasing a new version. This limited release of CrossLoop 1.10 introduces important new features but I think I should start with a brief description of the service for those of you who are not familiar with CrossLoop yet.

So how does it work? First of all you will need to download a small installation file from the website and install it on your computer. A big plus of the application is that it is actually a cross-platform one so you won't need to worry if the person you want to share the desktop with uses the same OS as you or not. CrossLoop will help you accomplish lots of support and collaboration tasks without any hassle.

After installation you will be able to start a CrossLoop sharing session as a Host or as a Join computer. If your role is Host your desktop will be shown to another participant (Join) and he or she will be able to control your mouse and keyboard to help resolve your problem.

So what's new in this release? First of all, now you can share a file with another user while sharing your desktop. I have not heard of any service providing free file transfer without any limitations in file size or type (you can even transfer folders via CrossLoop as well). Files are transferred by dragging and dropping a file (or multiple files and folders) onto the CrossLoop dialog box. The only possible problem is that CrossLoop does not scan transferred files for viruses - so you will need to scan them yourself when files are received.

Additionally CrossLoop developers have introduced “View Only” mode for the application - while working in this mode Join participant will only be able to view Host's desktop but will be unable to control the keyboard and mouse.

The next novelty is the “Switch Control” feature that is intended to switch roles between the Host and Join computers. This means that now you are able to switch from one role to another right in the process of the session.

If you are already willing to try out this new version or you already use CrossLoop but would like to upgrade it you can use this link (user name: xlbeta, password: filetransfer) and share it with your contacts because otherwise those people using older CrossLoop versions will not be able to use the newly introduced features. The link will expire on Friday (5 p.m. PST) so you need to hurry if you want to participate in this limited release.

Sure, there are some obvious things that could be introduced to further enhance online collaboration, for example adding multi-user sessions to two-parties principle might be a useful feature for users. And I am quite sure the people behind CrossLoop will start working on some new killer features as soon as this version is released to the general public. In the meanwhile be quick to participate as a beta tester in this limited release, it is definitely worth a try and you will soon find yourself accomplishing lots of collaboration-related tasks easier and faster.