Synergy
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Synergy combines your desktop devices together in to one cohesive experience. It's software for sharing your mouse and keyboard between multiple computers on your desk. It works on Windows, macOS and Linux.
License model
- Paid • Proprietary
Application types
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
Features
Synergy News & Activities
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Synergy information
Developed by
SymlessLicensing
Proprietary (GPL-2.0) and Commercial product.Pricing
One time purchase (perpetual license) ranging between $29 and $39.Written in
Rating
Average rating of 2.2Alternatives
16 alternatives listedSupported Languages
AlternativeTo Category
OS & UtilitiesGitHub repository
- 12,733 Stars
- 3,749 Forks
- 139 Open Issues
- Updated Oct 28, 2024
Comments and Reviews
I've used Synergy on and off for over 15 years, so when I say "it's a buggy piece of crud and always has been", I know whereof I speak.
There are fully FIVE HUNDRED AND NINETY FOUR current unfixed bugs showing on Synergy's Github page, many of which have languished untouched for several months.
Don't waste your time. Especially on a Mac.
[Edited by Stugol, April 04]
[Edited by Stugol, April 04]
I seen to remember that whoever had the open source project complained loudly about the 'odd' requests from users. You know, like fixing this bug or that, and whining about not getting paid while insulting users over constructive criticism. I was a bit pissed off when it went commercial and pricing went way above and beyond making money. Most projects that go commercial have a 'free' version for hobbyists and education, and charge businesses for licenses. Haven't used it since it went commercial. Doesn't surprise me that it's buggy and hasn't really been updated all that well. Too bad. It had a lot of promise.
Reply written Apr 13, 2018
This was a nice tool back then. Now you are supposed to have an account or even buy open source software from them. sucks. i went for barrier.
Synergy, critical workflow through a very flawed program.
Synergy was originally abandoned open source code that Symless picked up to further the project and ultimately commercialize it. Many years ago, the idea of having a home test lab and not having multiple keyboards and mice eating up desk real estate was a dream. You could ssh or rdp to your other machines but this isn't always the same as being in front of the machine. Synergy finally gave me a solution to many of my problems.
Synergy was expected to be buggy in the beginning because Symless were trying to start anew from old code. However, the software both improved and regressed during all these years. I won't go into all the various bugs I've encountered over the years as other posts give a better idea.
I believe most of the problems with Synergy are organizational. Questioning why developers want more money in a market that pays well. Giving current users a discount on the 2.x series but not refunding them when 2.x completely failed. Raising prices on already buggy software. Encouraging users, many of whom now depend on the software for work, to do bug testing. Who has time for that after eight hours?
I warned Nick (Symless founder) against going down the same road Parted Magic did when they put their product behind a paywall.
Overall Synergy is now mostly stable for my day to day use but I'd recommend trying Barrier first. Synergy is one of the few KM options available for linux.
After reading all the other reviews I have to sadly agree with almost every single comment made. I have been a user of Synergy as open source project. Like someone else here said "A great idea but implementation was not so stellar". As the project became more popular the Synergy team decided that this "open source" project should become a fully paid venture. I was lucky enough to find Synergy 1.0 on sale for 100% off. So I stayed with them. Years have come and gone and with each incremental release old bugs settled in and bred a new generation. I even tried the early horific 2.0 version. In my opinion the Synergy development team has fallen into an old programmers' trap. "Don't ever fall in love with you code." Don't hold on to your legacy code if there are newer, faster and cleaner methods even if you have to do some major rewriting. The best example is Synergy decisions to still hold on to Bonjour. I hope everyone agrees that Bonjour by now should have long retired to a small desert island where it could sip long island tea and play poker/checkers and chat away to everyone/everything he sees (look at your network traffic logs). Bonjour is perfect example of the 1980's Welcome Wagon. He feels the need to meet, and greet with EVERY single person on the island. It's like finding you're rich, quirky, and yet lovable grandfather Tinder profile. Remember the saying "Some things never change."? Well that ain't ALWAYS right.
Posted on Monday 2020-04-13 on symless website. Synergy 2.0 has stopped being development. They are working on the 'next' version with a 2022/2023 release date.
Sorry symless, I'm not waiting that long.
Many years ago I got the free version running after a long hassle and it works flawless. I will never touch or update anything, buggy as hell.
The idea is great. The execution - is not. Synergy has worked for me - sometimes. There's a reproducible bug that makes the whole system hang for multiple seconds, when you use Synergy and WebEx together. After the hang, the Synergy connection is lost, and has to be reestablished. Problem has been reported first in March 2017 by multiple users for version 1.8, has been incorrectly closed, has been reported again, hasn't even been fixed in their current 2.x beta thingie... I've had at least two other issues, and dev responsiveness is slow at best, if all.
Can't recommend, try Mouse without Borders, or ShareMouse, or Input Director...