I make quite a lot of use of VNC and on Macs I always use a Windows VNC client (TightVNC) via VM Fusion or Parallels since it is so so much faster than COVNC. Surely this shouldn't be the case though, I would have thought a native Mac app ought to have the edge.
I've just had a play with that and OK it is faster than Chicken of the VNC, but it's still way slower than TightVNC via Windows. On a VNC connection to a local machine with TightVNC there is no visual separation between the two mouse pointers when you move it across the screen, however with JollyFast it noticeably lags.
You've posted your question and follow-up comment in "Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard" > "Using Mac OS X Leopard."
Presuming you are, in fact, using Leopard, you don't need a third-party VNC client. Just go to /System/Library/CoreServices/ and use "Screen Sharing.app". You can put the application in your dock or use a launching program to have it launch with a keyboard command.
Leopard's built-in Screen Sharing.app has many features including the ability to resize the VNC window and to see the entire desktop for multi-monitor desktop setups.
Well yes, I am using it on a Mac - however I almost exclusively connect to Windows machines. As I understand it Screen Sharing.app only works to a Mac.
The way to compare tight vnc with other mac vnc clients is to make sure they are both using the same type of compression. Also make sure they are using the same color depth etc.
I've ticked all the preferences for JollyfastVNC that are relevant (including 8 bit color depth) and it is still appreciably slower than my Windows client (on my Mac). On a LAN connection with my Windows client when I move the mouse across the screen the two pointers do not separate, but with Jollyfast they do. There still seems to be something fundamentally flawed with the native implementation when it is slower than an emulated Windows environment.
My misconception was based upon the fact that I tried it last night and got an error and assumed it wasn't supported. However, I have just tried it again and it works great, a nice fast implementation, including to Windows. Thanks, I now don't need to fire up VM Fusion just to use VNC.
Another possibility is vine viewer. It costs but you can get a demo license. To be honest I don't know how it compares speedwise as I'm not a big enough VNC user to worry about it. But I find it works well with their vine server (free).
If what you really want is to connect to Windows machines, why not use the native Windows Remote Desktop client for Mac, available as a free download from Microsoft?