LastPass to be acquired, taken private

Topic

New Reply

LogMeIn Inc — the maker of LogMeIn and LastPass — announced yesterday that it will be acquired by two private equity firms. Martin Brinkmann has the
[See the full post at: LastPass to be acquired, taken private]

2 users thanked author for this post.

MicroAcres, ve2mrx

Reply | Quote

Replies

I guess when someone offers you $4.3 billion dollars, you take the money and run.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 8.1 running in a VM

2 users thanked author for this post.

Great Lake Bunyip, Kranium

Reply | Quote

I was a logmein customer for years. I used it for all my 150 or so client computers.
It was bought out
All development ceased
Customer service was degraded
Prices were raised markedly

Then it was sold again
No development
Customer service got worse
Prices went up dramatically

I looked elsewhere and found a better product for about 1/4 the price — Team Viewer
Excellent customer service
On-going development

Now Logmein is sold again. I predict a bad future for the product

CT

3 users thanked author for this post.

rc primak, Great Lake Bunyip, fk5353

Reply | Quote

I don’t have any experience with LogMeIn, but it frequently happens when you have Private Equity companies involved, they’re often looking to maximize short-term cash flow over any other considerations.

For what Canadian Tech has mentioned, this one has the feel of that happening again, including to brands such as LastPass and GoToMeeting.

Over the years, I’ve often enough been the customer of vendors that are acquired by others to know that it frequently does not go well.

For users of those products (including free versions of LastPass), it’s a good idea to start planning for migration to other products, rather than being forced into reworks of what you already have.

7 users thanked author for this post.

rc primak, ve2mrx, Great Lake Bunyip, Kranium, lanceboil, fk5353, Canadian Tech

Reply | Quote

[fk5353]

We have used LogMeIn almost since it started and LogMeIn Central since its start. And we have also had the same experience as others with both price and customer service. But we grit our teeth and stayed with it. This sale to a private equity firm may be what it takes to get us to jump-ship. From the customer perspective, I’ve rarely seen this turn out well in the past.

For the third year in a row, we are actively looking at alternatives because of price and the fact we find about 50 percent of Central simply doesn’t work well or doesn’t apply to us. If I may ask others, were you ever a Central user? Was the transition from LogMeIn to TeamViewer or other alternative difficult?

• This reply was modified 3 years, 5 months ago by fk5353.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 5 months ago by fk5353.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Canadian Tech

Reply | Quote

fk5353, trust me, Team Viewer is a significantly superior product. Call them. They are very good. I have been using TV for a couple of years now and I am delighted. I regret I did not make the move much sooner.

CT

2 users thanked author for this post.

Bluetrix, fk5353

Reply | Quote

We did the same thing.  Had lousy experience with LogMeIn and switched to TeamViewer a few years ago.  Was easy and quick to convert our clients.  Should have done it even sooner…

BTW I have used KeyPass forever and it’s wonderful (and free).  Anything LogMeIn leaves a bad taste in my mouth now (IMHO).

Cheers!!
Willie McClure
“We are trying to build a gentler, kinder society, and if we all pitch in just a little bit, we are going to get there.” Alex Trebek

1 user thanked author for this post.

rc primak

Reply | Quote

Has TeamViewer fixed their security issues?  They had 3 major breaches in the span of 2 years, didn’t they?  LMI was good back in 2014 when I last used it for work, but I’ve always been leery about using software that phones home to a third-party service I have no control over.

Currently I’m using Meraki which seems good enough for remote access and seems more secure than LMI.  I suspect a lot more expensive but that’s not my concern in my current position.  While more basic without a unified phonebook, I’m still a proponent of Radmin, Dameware, or VNC.  Maybe even RDP if the major issues have been fixed.  It keeps your information off of other people’s systems.  If something changes as you need to access a PC whose IP you don’t know, something like Join.Me works fine.

Reply | Quote

anonymous wrote:

Has TeamViewer fixed their security issues? They had 3 major breaches in the span of 2 years, didn’t they?

I’m aware of one breach in June 2016 but TeamViewer denied any data was lost from TeamViewer itself. If I remember correctly the company laid the blame solely on the re-use of username/password combos when using TeamViewer accounts. Those who don’t use a TeamViewer account (or don’t re-use combos) were apparently not affected. remember reading that the company subsequently introduced 2FA on TeamViewer accounts.

I’m interested if you know of more than this June 2016 incident (with links).

Hope this helps…

1 user thanked author for this post.

rc primak

Reply | Quote

When a successful start-up is bought from its founders, the price reflects the value placed on the company by the market at the time of the sale.  Accordingly, unless the founders are badly advised, there is little excess value in the business which is easily extractable by the buyers.  Consequently, the new owners must either “sweat” the assets (ie somehow obtain a greater income from the existing assets of the company – make the assets work harder) or sell off the existing assets piecemeal (assuming that the aggregated value of the individual parts of the company is greater than the whole).  Either way, it’s unlikely that existing customers or employees of the company will see better service, on one hand, or better salaries/conditions on the other.  For the customer, prices go up, service declines and hitherto “dormant” assets (eg customer data) are monetised: an old story but not a happy one

1 user thanked author for this post.

Kranium

Reply | Quote

Gah, just when I thought LastPass couldn’t get any worse. I only use it because it’s what the company decided on in the past. I would never, ever recommend it to anyone. It’s clear that they just take subscription money and funnel it up to some other corporate layer.

 

Hopefully we’ll switch to another password solution soon. I know a small department already went rogue and started using something else.

Reply | Quote

Hmmmm….. I was going to ask whether this buy was a good thing or a bad thing. So far, it doesn’t look like a good thing. Guess it’s time to find another PW manager. Merry F****** Christmas. Humbug, I tell you. Humbug!

There are 10 kinds of people:
those who understand binary numbers
and those who don't.

Reply | Quote

I hear you on ‘Bah, humbug’ and raise you one… 🙂

Reply | Quote

🙂

Keeping IT Lean, Clean and Mean!

6 users thanked author for this post.

MicroAcres, Kranium, ve2mrx, wavy, Great Lake Bunyip, jayinalaska

Reply | Quote

Apropos of LogMeIn, TeamViewer users (like me) may have noticed (like me) that a timeout has been implemented into connections for purely personal use (like me). 🙁

1 user thanked author for this post.

ve2mrx

Reply | Quote

[ve2mrx]

After being wrongly flagged “Commercial use” three times, I moved to AnyDesk Free.

Maybe they don’t like my network equipment (Ubiquiti router), my antivirus (Eset business) or my backup software (Acronis Backup), but I am still a home, non-commercial user.

I hate short-term support consumer routers. As a form of self-training, I set up a management server for Ubiquiti devices, and manage a few friends APs and routers. I support my family, so I use business antivirus with a management server that’s not even in my home but in my mom’s. And consumer backup solutions did not fit my needs a few years ago. I’m usually supporting computers professionally, but not from my home. I like to explore stuff, so my network is not a typical home network, agreed.

TeamViewer doesn’t want freeloaders, look it up on Reddit!

Martin

• This reply was modified 3 years, 5 months ago by ve2mrx. Reason: Added Ubiquiti clarification

1 user thanked author for this post.

MicroAcres

Reply | Quote

You mentioned AnyDesk Free software.   I started an AnyDesk trial but the license key expires in two weeks.  Does it become Free at that point? Or, how does one acquire a Free license for the product?   Thank you!

 

Terry.M

Reply | Quote

For password management,there have been for a long time better, more secure and equally convenient alternatives. Keepass and its cross-platform cousin works well in that department.

As for LogMeIn, I never trusted the organization, though I haven’t heard any stories of serious security issues if folks were being wise with their passwords. Kinda like the so-called “Ring Web Cam Hacks” which have made headlines recently. Good password hygiene was not practiced by those who got “hacked”. That isn’t a hack or a crack — it’s the inevitable result of using products right out of the box with little or no effort being put into setup and configuration.

It isn’t the tech companies’ fault when end users are too lazy or too naive to take reasonable precautions. The only effective way to solve this issue is to make people literally wear surgically implanted dongles or chips. I for one don’t look forward to that solution.

With several good free and even open-source alternatives, I feel no need to tie myself to either LastPass or LogMeIn.

-- rc primak

1 user thanked author for this post.

ve2mrx

Reply | Quote