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MacOS Time Machine, the best backup software in the business.

Time Machine is Apple's backup solution.  It's the best backup in the business, but it needs to be updated.

Time Machine is amazing because it is by far more effective than any other backup solution.  You attach a backup drive to your computer, and your Mac asks you if you want to back up.  Say yes, and the backup happens.

Time Machine does full disk backup.  It backs up periodically and automatically. You can step back in time to recover old versions of stuff.  It smartly ignores files that don't need to be backed up (like /tmp and /proc and whatever).  It automatically manages backup disks.  TimeMachine has configuration options, but they're simple and straightforward - perfect for anyone except perhaps the data center backup pro who has spent countless hours developing an optimal backup strategy.

The backup industry has not responded to Time Machine.  It focuses on "every feature under the sun", with countless options and capabilities.  But those products are so time consuming to administrate and maintain that only a tiny number of home users use them.

But Time Machine does not do off-site backup.  And so if your house suffers through a fire, flood, or theft, you still might lose everything.  Bummer.

I hope Apple amps up Time Machine so that Mac users can keep their backups on S3-class storage services. Throw in a few simple configuration options for S3, and Time Machine could help address the weak online backup world including companies like Mozy, CrashPlan, and Carbonite.

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