I'm generally a big fan of apple's productivity products, and I'm very willing to pay for a polished implementation of something that can be done by other methods but in a less sleek / efficient way.

I used ARD 1.2 with GREAT results, managing OS X and 9 machines. ARD2 looked like a nice new version, and I was looking forward to the new features.

Yes, I should have checked the fine print - ARD2 will not manage OS 9 machines. THIS IS INSANE. Think about it - ARD2 WILL manage VNC-client machines, but WON'T manage Apple's OS 9 machines with a 'native' pluging?

One of the best things about OS X is that it can handle many protocols, talk to many kinds of network, even run Classic and Unix apps, etc.

For Apple to reduce the functionality of an administration tool like this is just bad policy. And - the 'use a VNC server' work-around is not really an option. We tried installing VNC-3.3.3b2, and it sucks - slow for the viewer, and kills the viewed machines speed for other functions (i.e. our web server barely accepted new connections when we were looking at it using the VNC server).

Short review - if ARD 1.2 is working for you, DON'T upgrade. Or to be a little more fair, if you are not managing an all-Panther client group, don't upgrade.

Apple - shame on you for reducing the effectiveness of a wonderful tool. I love OS X, but there is no way you can prod users into upgrading legacy machines running OS 9 by taking away a management tool. Some boxes just have to stay on OS 9, and making manager's lives more difficult isn't going to sell more copies of OS X.