If you just saw your friend controlling two devices – a PC and a laptop – using a single keyboard and a mouse, he must have been using Mouse Without Borders Mac alternative. It is a cross-platform software built by Truong Do, a Microsoft employee.
Do you know? This amazing software gives you sufficient flexibility – so much that you can control as many as four computers simultaneously. This open-source software offers mouse share, keyboard share, clipboard share between two computers.
Amazing, isn’t it? Where you’re supposed to work with multiple input devices to control each computer, you’re working with just one of a kind and are controlling up to four computers. But the real questions you might want to know include:
- Is Mouse Without Borders compatible with different operating systems, across all devices?
- Does it really empower you to use Windows, Mac or Linux in one go?
We’ll cover these questions, but before that, you should know what features you’re getting with this software.
Table of Contents
Benefits of Mouse Without Borders
Best for controlling multiple screens with one computer, mouses without borders is quite sophisticated and user-friendly.
Quick and Easy Set-Up
That’s the first thing every user will be looking for. Mouse Without Borders is extremely easy to install. If you have a PC or Windows laptop, this software can be installed through WiFi across all the devices it is compatible with. If you have fast and reliable internet, it’ll take you around two minutes to install the setup.
User-Friendly Interface
Is there are a manual to use it? Mouse Without Borders features smart and easy-to-use learning functionality. Once you installed it, all you need is hover the mouse on the available tabs, and it’ll tell you what to do. There’s ‘Other Options’ tab that’ll help you to learn about different functions. Depending on your requirements, you can set it up fairly easily.
Easy to Switch Between Screens
As said, this software is meant for working with multiple screens, you’ll see the cursor moving from one screen to another without pressing any key or command. The same goes for the mouse pointer. Check the ‘Wrap Mouse’ box, and voila. You’re free to move the pointer across multiple computers without special commands or the KVM switch. No wires needed in that.
Clipboard Sharing
You might ask if moving cursor or mouse pointer is that easy, so should be copying and pasting. That’s true. With Mouse Without Borders, you can copy the text, image, or the entire document from one screen to another in real-time. One might say that the speed may vary based on the device speed, but most users don’t find any noticeable hiccups in real-time copy/pasting.
Limitations
Like every product, there are some drawbacks with Mouse Without Borders too. Let’s find out:
Installation
While the installation is easy, you have to install the software on the computer fleet. We’ve already discussed how many devices you can control at once.
Limited Device Flexibility
What if you have a Windows PC and a Macbook? Can you use this software on both? No, you can’t. This can be a deal-breaker for quite a few individuals who have devices featuring different operating systems.
Mouse Without Borders Mac Alternatives
Although it’s heart-broken to know Mouse Without Borders Mac version has not been created as we speak, the good news for Mac users is, they can try these open source alternatives.
ShareMouse
Probably the best alternative to Mouse Without Borders for Mac, ShareMouse is a paid cross-platform software that’s compatible with up to nine computers. What gives it an edge over the Microsoft version is its support to Mac OSX and Windows systems.
Apart from the basic mouse and keyboard sharing and drag and drop feature, Share Mouse offers automatic position detection of the screen. It also offers smart device synchronization, allowing you to log in, log out, or run screensavers across all the screens simultaneously.
Synergy
Synergy is another popular cross-platform software that supports different operating systems. Whether you have a Windows computer, Linux, or Mac, this Mouse Without Borders alternative supports all of them. Synergy is meant for commercial use so you’ll have to buy it, of course. It offers mouse and keyboard sharing, and clipboard sharing among multiple platforms.
Logitech Options
If you’re looking for a free Mouse Without Borders alternative for Mac, you can try this cross-platform software by Logitech Options. You’re getting copy/paste actions, mouse gestures, one keyboard, and one mouse support. Moreover, you can customize other input devices across Mac and Windows computers.
Barrier
Barrier is another free tool to connect multiple computers with different operating systems to one keyboard and mouse at a workstation. According to the users, this open-source tool is fairly easy to install and supports Windows, Linux, and Mac OS. It offers SSL encryption along with the basic keyboard and mouse sharing. Oh, and you can also share the clipboard between multiple devices as well.
Across
This is another commercial purpose software that supports multiple operating systems, including Mac, Windows, and Android. Instead of the WiFi, you need Bluetooth to connect your devices with a single keyboard and mouse.
All of this software is licensed, so there’s no harm using any of them commercially.
Conclusion
If you ever thought of connecting multiple devices with one keyboard and mouse, you’d be aware of the cross-platform software. Normally, this software has been used in workplaces, training, and projects demanding to multitask. With Mouse Without Borders, the demand for cross-platform software has increased, especially in the gaming niche.
Ths software’s limitation in OS support turns out to be an opportunity for many other alternatives. There are both free and paid tools available that are compatible with Windows, Linux, Mac, and Android systems. It’s up to you to decide which of them makes the best Mouse Without Borders Mac alternative.
