PC World asked "One question: Why doesn't Windows Vista have anything this simple and useful?"

Well if PCWorld has finally gotten around to asking that question, Microsoft is indeed in deep trouble.

But I've got news for them, they can ask that same question to many more Leopard vs Vista features.

Come on. Time Machine is nothing but a nice UI on top of something I used 10 years ago. I think it was called snapshot or something on UNIX that basically does the exact same thing. You can access all your backup from ~/.snapshot. Apple simply put a nice UI for you navigate back in time.

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Anonymous wrote:
Come on. Time Machine is nothing but a nice UI on top of something I used 10 years ago. I think it was called snapshot or something on UNIX that basically does the exact same thing. You can access all your backup from ~/.snapshot. Apple simply put a nice UI for you navigate back in time.

It is new on personal computers, Macs or Windows. However, like you say it is the nice graphical interface that makes useful to us visual types who are not into command lines.

I have used it a few times. In all cases it was a client asking if I had a copy of an email they sent to several addressees. I keep telling people that it is better to save an important email to disk rather than keeping it in SENT or IN boxes

I am still making periodic mirror backups of my hard drive to a different externl drive than the one I use for Time Machine. I also have Synch daily backup my address book, calendar and keychain to .Mac

"Come on. Time Machine is nothing but a nice UI on top of something I used 10 years ago. I think it was called snapshot or something on UNIX that basically does the exact same thing. You can access all your backup from ~/.snapshot. Apple simply put a nice UI for you navigate back in time."

It's not really important if the Unix tool existed a long time ago or not. What is important is that Apple has brought that tool to the masses in a simple, easy-to-use manner. It brings real functionality to the world of personal computers.

Why didn't Microsoft figure this out a long time ago?

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Anonymous wrote:
Why didn't Microsoft figure this out a long time ago?

The real question is why no one figured this out a long time ago. In the world of backups there is no one correct answer and whatever you do you will never be totally safe and you can bet that there will come a time when your regime, no matter how convoluted will fail to meet your needs (even if it's just accessing some oddball email from 1995 about a gym subscription).

In essence what makes Time Machine relevant and powerful is that it's a multipurpose backup tool that is simple, understandable, affordable and doesn't get in the way. It pops up when you need it, allowing you to restore your machine in full to a previous state (viz. if your hard drive died, you get a new machine or the like) and it also allows anyone to understand how to retrieve any file or directory which is incredibly convenient.

In short, it's not always about how the kinds of people who likely adorn this kind of forum look at a problem, solution or experience but rather how their friends and family would appreciate it.

there's a lot more in Time Machine than you see in the glossies.

Maybe you've noticed that Apple is moving towards USB rather than Firewire. Maybe you have figured that USB is master-slave rather than peer-to-peer and therefore wondered how migration ("Migration Assistant") will happen with non-Firewire Macs.

Doh. It's called "Time Machine". Try it.