Mac HelpMate version 2.5 will be released to subscribers on 4/1/08 - "No Foolin'." Mac HelpMate 2.5 will be released to the general public two weeks later.

Changes from version 2.2 in Mac HelpMate:

• Addition of Sparkle for automated updates of the application (each subscriber will get their own "app feed" with their own personalized copy)
• Screen sharing how automatically retries connections if the first fails
• "De-Serialize MS Office" now supports Microsoft Office 2008
• Clean MS Office Font Caches now support Microsoft Office 2008
• Faster Launch Times
  
  

• Fixed "Hang at Startup" IPv6 bug
• Added toggle for "UNIX Paths in Title Bars" to Prefs tab
• Added toggle for "3-D Dock Effect" to Prefs tab
• Added toggle for "Mouse-Over Highlight on Stacks" to Prefs tab
• Added toggle for "List View Stripes" to Prefs tab
• Added toggle for "Use AFP for Time Machine" to Prefs tab
• Added toggle for "Tme Machine Disk Prompting" to Prefs tab
• "Installed Packages" inspector in the "Disk" tab nowsupports both legacy and Leopard packages
• ASR Multicast server now supports the Leopard version of the command-line tool
• Adjusted cleaning routines for Mac OS X 10.5

Proactive Alerts

• Any alert may now be disabled by setting it to a value of "0" - which allows for more granular control in the "Disks and Memory" section of the alerts
  
• Low disks space alerts has a panel to select any mounted disk to monitor free space - settings are remembered, even if a drive is connected and reconnected (Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5 only)
• Alerts can now be updated with the "Apply" buttons without toggling the alert status on and off
• Growl support now adds specifics to alerts such as "The disk erato on miniTV has 1 percent left!"

Screen Sharing / Control

• AutoShare now correctly writes to the internal preference file without an error
• Screen Sharing now more accurately reports the connection state to the Mac HelpMate gateway
• Better error handling for the built-in Java viewer - now reports reason when remote connection fails and Java viewer closes
  
• Popup with Machines/Security Secret/Control Keys now populates reliably
• Fixed a bug that could cause a Mac HelpMate to hang after registering a computer with the Auto HelpMate Connection Manager

Auto HelpMate

Drastically improved user interface

• Columns are now sortable by clicking on the headings
• Helpful tooltips help guide you through the actions
• New icons to indicate the state of a registered computer (blue of available, red for shared, gray for offline)
• When filter your list to concentrate on a particular group of computers, you can now refresh the selection without losing it
• To edit a machine's details, simply click its name
• Lock icon next to sharing state icon indicates a password-protected computer
• Added line numbering for easier reference
• CSS-based highlights better indicates the position of the mouse
• Version number of Auto HelpMate components displayed
• Alert icon indicates if uptime alerts have been configured for a particular machine

New Features and Capabilities

• Password-protected computer groups. Now it is possible to restrict certain lists (such as your personal machines) from your co-workers. It also allows for managers to delegate access to engineers or technicians at their own discretion without making all computers available to everyone at the company. Computers that are members of a password protected group will appear with a lock next to their sharing state icon and will prompt for the group password when someone attempts to initiate screen sharing on that computer
• Uptime alerts. You can now configure uptime alerts to email you when a computer in your list of Auto HelpMate registered computers is not able to communicate with the Mac HelpMate gateway. If you manage servers, it's a great tool to be alerted if one goes down for any reason. If you have to "catch" a road warrior, it's a good way to know when they're online. Uptime alerts can happen once, or on an interval of your choice. Alerts are also posted to your Auto HelpMate Connection Manager page