IMPORTANT NOTE: This article was published under the firm belief that ShareMouse is in fact FREEWARE. The free nature of this software has now been called into question. We have sent off an email to the developers seeking clarification. In the meantime, we suggest anyone interested in downloading this software should hold off until after we have received that response. Please read through the ‘Comments’ section for more details.
I know of many people who have desktop and laptop PCs set up in close proximity to one another. Do you have more than one computer set up on your workspace? Then ShareMouse could be just what you have been looking for. ShareMouse is software, available for both Mac and PC, which allows users to share one mouse and keyboard across multiple networked computers, without the need for any additional hardware or switches.
When you reach the border of the monitor, the mouse cursor magically jumps to the neighboring monitor and you can then control that computer. Unlike any KVM switch, there is no need to press any button or turn a switch. All mouse and keyboard input is encrypted and transmitted over your existing Ethernet or Wireless LAN network connection. No extra hardware is required, you can seamlessly operate multiple computers on your desk from any mouse and keyboard.
ShareMouse enables you to drag & drop files between multiple computers. Just pick one or more files with the mouse and drag them to the monitor of the desired target computer.
ShareMouse shares the clipboard between multiple computers. Whatever you copy into the clipboard of one computer is available in the clipboard of any other computer.
ShareMouse allows you to control a Mac from a PC. It also works the other way round and you can control a PC from a Mac.
This is what one user review had to say about the ShareMouse software:
I decided to try this as I am setting up a new laptop sitting just to the left of my main PC. I am really impressed. Simply move the mouse to the left side of the screen and you have instant control of the laptop using the PC’s mouse and keyboard. Saves a lot of time. Just drag the files from the PC to the laptop. Simple to set up – Rated 5 Star.
- There is also a portable version available.
- ShareMouse Home Page
- Download for Windows: 1.4MB exe
- Portable for Windows: 1.1MB zip
NOTE: The ShareMouse home page is rated Amber by WOT. There are no negative comments at all on the WOT site details page to substantiate that rating. The file scans 100% clean through VirusTotal.
Hi Jim, thanks for mentioning our software ShareMouse.
I wonder about the “amber rating” @WOT. What is WOT, please? Could you send me a link. We would love to evaluate the situation.
Thank you very much!
Michael
ShareMouse Team
http://www.keyboard-and-mouse-sharing.com
Hi Jim,
Very interesting find here, went ahead to check it out. But now I’m a bit confused.
I assumed you introduced it as a freeware, but it seems that it’s sold – there’s a Sales, Licensing & Payment section in the FAQs and an online shop.
The EULA is available to download as a pdf file and not included in any of the two downloadable versions. The first paragraph states:
But there’s no evaluation period set. Do they relly on the honesty of users? Update checks log license key, time/date of access, hardware ID and IP address, but update checks can be turned off.
To use or not to use?
Cheers,
Flying Dutchman
Hey FD – Seems you may indeed be correct. I didn’t even look into the FAQ and there is no mention of ordering, purchasing, licensing, trials, etc. anywhere else on the site. It seems an unusual place to tuck away those sorts of details (in the FAQ section) rather than under an obvious menu item – certainly raises some suspicions.
Every download site I checked this on lists it as FREEWARE, as do all the reviews I checked through. e.g. FileForum added this software to its downloads on 4th November 2011 and lists it as FREEWARE. CNET Download.com added ShareMouse to its downloads on 1st November 2011 and lists it as FREEWARE.
I’ve sent off an email to the developers seeking clarification, hopefully they will respond quickly. In the meantime, we suggest everyone holds off downloading this software until after we receive and publish that response.
Cheers…Jim
A further development:
Turned my system clock forward 12 months and received the following message from ShareMouse: “The Beta test has expired. Please download & install the final ShareMouse Beta version”
So, this is all very iffy. Won’t make any final judgment until when/if we hear from the developers but it is not looking good.
Hey Jim,
About the beta, if you look at the left-top of their site, it’s labeled as beta and it’s mentioned in Support>Press Lounge.
Maybe it’s “free” as long as it’s in beta? Their online shop sure works.
Did you try shorter time-lines?
I’ve done some searching of my own. Seems like it’s been featured on a number of sites and they’ve always jumped in to comment (they even comment on articles about other similar S/W to say they’re an alternative). So, I wouldn’t be suprised if they’d comment here as well, though it may take some time since they’re based in Germany and it’s the middle of the night there right now.
The portable version is available for download on Softpedia where it’s labeled as shareware (USD 24.95) and beta.
The most interesting link I stumbled upon is the “ShareMouse Alternative”: http://keymosha.com/alternative.htm – go, visit it.
Right after this, I found a comment on a site saying that hopefully this free software won’t be confusing to set up. They replied ignoring the “free software” part.
All in all, they don’t seem to try hard enough to make it clear it’s shareware, at least not at the moment.
Our apologies for the confusion.
ShareMouse and its website really is beta as in “work in progress”. Please allow us to finalize the website/product.
The Windows Edition will be free-of-charge for personal use and we will add all required information. We are just working on it right now and you actually “hit” us before the official release.
We kindly ask for your patience. Thank you!
Michael
ShareMouse Team
Michael – Thank you for responding here, very much appreciated. 🙂
However, a lot of questions still remain unanswered. Hopefully your website, when finalized, will make matters much clearer than they appear at the moment. Do you have an official release date in mind?
Cheers…Jim
Of course, we will add all required information. We will release the software when we believe that it is mature, rock-solid and ready to be launched.
Unfortunately, the software doesn’t tell us the date. We have to figure out ourselves. 😉
We will try to update the FAQ section today.
So, is this a situation where you are time limiting a beta version to prevent older beta copies from being in the Wild? Is the final product going to be freeware, paid, or will there be a paid pro version?
Hi,
Ok, the FAQ page regarding licensing was updated yesterday:
The windows edition will be a limited free-of-charge app after all. I couldn’t find what the “demo mode” limitations will be.
There’s also an explanation why the Mac version won’t be free.
And the EULA hasn’t changed (yet).
Looks like we have to wait for the final release to get a clear picture.
Cheers,
Flying Dutchman
> Looks like we have to wait for the final release to get a clear picture.
It is awesome that you are so engaged with ShareMouse and we really need your support and you actually could help us.
Please *participate* in the beta test and post your observations of such inconsistencies directly in our support forum (as it is difficult for us to collect feedback spread from comments all over the internet).
Freeware can be a “Give and Take” thing.
Thank you for your support.
Michael
ShareMouse Team
http://www.keyboard-and-mouse-sharing.com
This sounds suspiciously similar to “Synergy” or the recent MS release, “Mouse Without Borders”.
No need to wait to see if this is indeed free. You can get Microsoft’s Mouse without Borders that does the same thing for free.
http://blogs.technet.com/b/next/archive/2011/09/09/microsoft-garage-download-mouse-without-borders.aspx
Thanks for mentioning Mouse Without Borders, we are well aware of the Mouse Without Borders software, it is going to be the subject of a follow up article.
However, there is one major difference between ShareMouse and Mouse Without Borders; ShareMouse will work between Windows and Mac platforms, Mouse without Borders does not support Mac at all (as one would expect. 🙂 ).
Synergy is cross-platform (Windows, Mac OS X and Linux), Open Source and Free, so ShareMouse did not invent the wheel.
The “different” in ShareMouse is that it’s not based on the “Server- Client” basis.
Cheers,
Flying Dutchman
i’ve been using multiplicity by stardock for more than 10 years. it’s fantastic and works without a hitch. there is a free trial version, and i remember at one time it was free if used on just 2 computers , but then a fee applied if used on 3 or more. whatever i paid 10 yrs ago was a bargain, but i believe even at todays price, i don’t recall excat amount … but still a bargain. it works and it’s easy. the support staff is outstanding too; after a quick email i’m provided at no charge, links to download the latest versions on ea new pc i’ve bought over the years. they are an absolute pleasure to deal with . buy it once and in 10 years still get updated software for your new replacement pc’s who else provides something that great?
people say you get what you pay for….. only a few can say they toltally exceed any expectations of their consumers. i have no business assoc w stardock, if they happen to read this, it would be nice of them to send be a note. they do offer an area of additional software…over the years ive tried several. most i could still upgrade free if i wanted…
I just stumbled across your site and I like it a lot. I know this is an older post, but I think I found the answer to the freeware issue:
http://www.keyboard-and-mouse-sharing.com/freeware.htm
Essentially it says it is free unless you are using it professionally, or you are a “power user”. They define “power user” as someone who uses more than 2 computers, more than 2 displays, or a few other things. See the link.
So for most of us, it should work great. The only thing I can see that it really has over synergy is the drag + drop feature, so if you’re a 2 monitor user it’s probably worth looking into if you care about that.