[Bug 396831] [NEW] Proposal: Set grdc (Remote Desktop Client) as default remote client for Karmic (replaces tsclient and vinagre)

[Conn]

Public bug reported:

Binary package hint: grdc

I propose that for the GNOME release of Karmic, Grdc Remote Desktop
Client should be installed by default, replacing both the tsclient and
vinagre applications.

Availability: grdc 0.6.0-0ubuntu1 available from the universe repository with minimal extra libraries required (libvncserver0 and potentially libssh-2). The 0.6 release is considered stable by upstream.
Overview: supports "RDP, VNC, SSH and Avahi network protocols, more stable multi-threading, password encryption" [1]

Rationale: grdc provides superior features compared to both tsclient and
vinagre combined; performance is equal to tsclient for RDP connections
and superior to vinagre for VNC connections; interface is uncluttered
(despite offering useful advanced functionality); application supports
the two most popular protocols (RDP and VNC) in single interface;
upstream development is active; low disk footprint (installing the
packages "grdc libssh-2 libvncserver0" requires 1036KB disk space).

Argument against inclusion: vinagre should be supported since it is part of the official GNOME desktop set.
Counter-argument: vinagre has not seen significant development in quite some time, and has serious performance issues for VNC connections and does not support basic options such as changing bit depth [2].

Brief summary of client features:

1. vinagre (VNC client):
- Supports VNC and Avahi protocols
- Supported by upstream GNOME project and included in default desktop configuration. 
- Supports full screen, scaling, view only mode.
- Interface allows users to save and open connection "profiles" (called Bookmarks) 
- Performance is generally considered poor [2]; very slow even over 100Mbit connection, and lack of colour depth option further reduces options to improve performance over low bandwidth connections.

2. tsclient (RDP client)
- Potentially supports RDP, VNC, XDMCP, ICA protocols; default configuration in Ubuntu only provides RDP functionality.
- Supports custom screen resolution, bit depths, full-screen switch (of which the latter doesn't function).
- Supports custom keyboard mapping (which doesn't work correctly for me).
- Supports creation of connection profiles, but the interface does not have any way of displaying/choosing previously saved connections. 
- Interface provides support for "advanced" features such as bitmap caching, but advanced settings do not appear to work correctly, nor are they saved properly when you create a connection profile.
- Performance with RDP connection is generally good (which reflects upon rdesktop, as tsclient is only a frontend)

3. grdc (RDP/VNC/Avahi/SSH client)
- Supports "RDP, VNC, SSH, Avahi network protocols
- Supports custom screen resolution, bit depths; full-screen switch available via pulldown toolbar.
- Supports advanced RDP options such as bitmap caching, compression and attaching to Windows 2003 console (which appear to function, unlike tsclient).
- Supports VNC options such as remote cursor, view only and disable server input.
- Interface allows users to save and open connection profiles.
- Interface presents many useful options, but does a good job of isolating basic options from advanced options via tabs in preferences dialog.
- Supports SSH tunneling.
- Supports grabbing of keyboard events.
- Performance with RDP *and* VNC protocol is excellent.

References:
[1] http://grdc.sourceforge.net/
[2] https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/vinagre/+bug/203782

** Affects: grdc (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

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Proposal: Set grdc (Remote Desktop Client) as default remote client for Karmic (replaces tsclient and vinagre)
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/396831
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