Online Backup: 100% Install

My last post Online Backup any different from Traditional Backup for Laptop/Desktop? was quickly turned in to us vs. them argument by Beth Pariseau in her blog post Blog dialogue: Online vs. traditional backup. I guess my curiosity and conversation starter about slow adoption of online backup didn't come across clearly.

… Gupta probably has “too much” experience with backup clients to necessarily see things from the SMB customer’s point of view. For him, installing a backup client isn’t a big deal–for some, it might be enough of a reason to let somebody else deal with it.

Initially, I thought about pulling Tony on her. On a side note, I wonder why Tony spills coffee every time Hu sneezes.

More I analyzed her statements, more I realized her opinions most likely resulted from what she heard as a storage news writer and from whom instead of her own experiences. Keywords like SMB are a good giveaway whom she is listening to. Not many practitioners try to segment customers with mile-wide brush. ;-)

Lets start with addressing her installation related concerns. Do online backup services magically appear and start working on your laptop/desktop by themselves? No, someone has to download and install them. Only backup clients that come pre-installed on your system are the ones that don't require install. As I understand, there are two main backup clients available that don't require installation and readily available to users, one provided by Microsoft with Windows XP (Windows Backup) and other one provided by Apple with Leopard (Time Machine).

Lets add configuration of the backup client to the part of "difficult to install" equation. Configuration of Mozy Pro [PDF 46 pages] and Windows Backup [Web page - 6 pages if you decide to print], are available online for your review and comparison. Of course, Time Machine is so simple to configure that even someone like me, who misunderstands backup needs of SMB according to a marketer, implemented on MacBook without instructions. BTW, AppleInsider article Road to Mac OS X Leopard: Time Machine is a good overview of Time Machine.

You be the judge how difficult each one is to install and configure.

As I wrote in my comment on Beth's blog, my intention is not to promote one method over another, just to show similarities and question the current implementations. Hopefully, these posts are setting the stage for future opinions and conversations that will help improve current BaaS offerings and develop new ones.

More to come.