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Leopard bares its teeth at Apple conference
August 9, 2006 -
Apple shows Leopard's spots
August 7, 2006
This time, however, the goal is to prevent the universe from collapsing because the file with the big sales presentation has disappeared, or the picture of the family reunion was lost to a faulty hard drive.
No plutonium is necessary to use Apple's Time Machine software, but an extra hard drive is required.
Video: Leopard's Time Machine
Scott Forstall, Apple's vice president of platform experience, demonstrates the new application at the WWDC in San Francisco.
Time Machine will let Apple users running Leopard search for the last time they saved a document, picture or any other file on their Mac, said Apple's Scott Forstall, vice president of platform experience, as he introduced the backup feature at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday.
Only around a quarter of all Mac users back up their files, and just 4 percent do so automatically, Forstall said. Time Machine will make it easy for Mac users to set up automatic backups and restore the file they desperately need, he said.
Judging by the audience response, Apple developers at the WWDC were thrilled by the user interface of the Time Machine feature. If users can't find a file in Apple's Finder application, they can click on a Time Machine button to bring up a series of windows stretching over the horizon, with a picture of a black hole off in the distance. Each window represents a day or another fixed period of time, and in order to find the desired file, the user "flies" back in time toward the black hole, with a time line on the right side of the screen marking progress as the days sweep underneath.
The software saves the "deltas," or the changes from one version of the file to a newer version, Brian Croll, director of Mac OS X development, explained in an interview after the keynote presentation. Once the last saved version of the file is located, it can be restored to the main Finder window with a click of the mouse.
"Consumers want it to be automatic and just work," Croll said. The company gathered feedback from consumers about the Backup feature in Mac OS X and came up with Time Machine, he said.
To make Time Machine work, Mac users will need to use a separate HFS+ compatible non-bootable hard drive, Croll said. This can be an external drive for notebook or iMac users, or one of the four hard drives that can fit into Apple's new Mac Pro desktop.
Time Machine is probably the biggest end-user feature Apple showed during its preview of Leopard on Monday, said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at Jupiter Research. Jupiter's findings also showed that as more and more content is stored on the Internet, computer users aren't backing up their files, even those that are not duplicated on a server. "It's setting a stage for disaster," he said.
Gartenberg pointed out that automated backup software is offered by Microsoft and others, but that Apple managed to make such traditionally mundane tasks more interesting. "People don't smile and laugh when they see (Windows') System Restore," he said.
CNET News.com's Ina Fried contributed to this report.
See more CNET content tagged:
Time Machine,
WWDC,
Apple Computer,
backup software,
Apple Macintosh
I admit to not backing up as often or as thoroughly as I should. This will solve that problem.
although I believe it?s Mac OS 8/9?only) a little utility called
Aladdin Flashback. It did exactly what Time Machine does, only
without the awesome interface and seamless integration into the
OS. Still, when I used it, it worked beautifully and used a
remarkably small amount of hard drive space.
Of course, when I get Leopard, I?ll probably also pick up a 500GB
hard drive to back up my 320GB RAID, instead of the 320GB
drive I use now. Wish I?d known that a few days ago, before I
bought the 320?.
Ah, technology.
difference data. So you don't get five million copies of what you
had on your hard drive yesterday, the day before and the day
before that, ad infinitum.
While you can use your hard drive, the smart thing is to use an
external drive. But I believe Apple will announce support
for .Mac and let you back up to .Mac.
In fact, Jobs did not talk about .Mac at all. You can bet there will
be major .Mac news when this puppy ships.
I'm not a player in the Apple vs. Microsoft or Mac vs. WIndows I like them both. Apple is a wonderful solution for Home Consumers where Microsoft lives in the Corporate world. I thought for a quick minute that Microsoft was going to branch off and develop for the Home Consumer with XP Home but once i realized it was just a chopped XP Pro it was clear that Microsoft still didn't want to compete directly with Apple (not that they had to back then). MS should ditch ballmer and all the old farts and really start thinking fresh. Maybe they should fire Billy and Balmer like Apple did with Jobs...let them sweat a while and then bring them back and see if they can reignite a spark in a once productive organization.
On the Mac side...Jobs is starting to get complacent again...where's all our exciting news every couple months like last year. Jobs set the bar so high now I (we) are getting bored again with Apple. Especially since the anouncement of Leopard for Spring '07...however mark my words, they're release it sooner than that. Where's our WiFi synchable iPOD!? I don't want to buy music at starbucks on my iPOD...i want to leave the iPOD in my BMW's glove box and have it synch with my library of music from my house.
Sorry for the rant...let me know what you think
Just a quick question, if your iPod is with you how could you have changed your library and added something you want, when you're not there.
The wonderful Mac world for complete dummies. Sorry, but that's the way it is. Why on earth would I need something to find a file I'd sensibly stored on the backup drive? Derr - I lose stuff - I lose my job. Welcome to the wonderful world of born-again Maccolytles.
must also loathe power windows, refrigerators with ice
dispensers, self-propelled lawn mowers, and garage door
openers. Imagine his irritation at cars that can be started from
the inside, cooking without wood, and air conditioning. His
argument isn't against stupidity, it's against modernity. He's
fighting a rear-guard action against ease of use. He's the sort of
person (if not the actual one) who railed against graphical
interfaces; a command line guy from the womb. Oh, the joy he
must get from seeing Wordstar crackle to life on his CPM
machine with a huge 25 MB hard drive. A computerized neo-
luddite.
Pull your head out and realize that the vast majority of people don't - and won't - maintain backups, unless it's made even "simpler."
"Derr," indeed.
Sure you're dilligent enough to do a backup every five minutes but most of us find it boring and tiresome, this will be great for those of us who would rather make stuff instead of protecting what we already have.
Sure you're dilligent enough to do a backup every five minutes but most of us find it boring and tiresome, this will be great for those of us who would rather make stuff instead of protecting what we already have.
users. It is just you that is the idiot.
Most people do not back up adequately. If you have seen the
demo, you would realize just how intuitive this app will be for
average users. Anything that makes it easy for people to backup
their data is a welcome contribution.
Of course, there are other backup utilities, most of do scheduled
backups. The nice thing about Time Machine is that it is backup
on the fly. Scheduled backup hasn't run yet? No problem. Need
something that was deleted a year ago (and thus is gone from
any recent backups) no problem.
Conference. They need to the tools, and they need to know
what it all implies.
As far as "Time Machine" is concerned, any of you who continue
to state this was no big deal, could not be further from sanity.
Its doesn't matter that it is using an archive function. Its about
its engineering from the OS, to the UI and back. If our
development structure was made of minds like yours, we'd
probably still be using an abacus.
(gone, waiting for the system to finish this post)
We KNOW backup software exists, and has existed for years. We KNOW that you can copy a file do a different disk and - presto - backed up!
That's so far from the point, it's like the anti-point.
The point is getting regular people - 96% of us, if surveys are accurate - to maintain backups. That's what this will do.
It's nothing short of a boon for the computer-using public, because Apple (again) took something that (yes) already exists and made it highly available and intuitive for the average non-computer-industry-employee human being.
task and made it incredibly easy, all data encompassing and...FUN
TOO!
Go Apple!
Personally I use batch files, scheduler, and a redundant drive for backups that works fine. It only runs and uses resources when I want it to, stores the files in the exact same format they were written in, and doesn't impact system performace. While it doesn't handle versioning my computing habits solved that years ago.
Conference. They need to the tools, and they need to know
what it all implies.
As far as "Time Machine" is concerned, any of you who continue
to state this was no big deal, could not be further from sanity.
Its doesn't matter that it is using an archive function. Its about
its engineering from the OS, to the UI and back. If our
development structure was made of minds like yours, we'd
probably still be using an abacus.
To some of us, Mac is not a 'way of life' or a 'fashion statement', it's a brand. It has its advantages and its defects, like any other IT product. In the real world and as an IT manager, costs have to be weighed against benefits, and sorry folks, but Mac loses every time. It's just not worth the hassle. The choices are far too limited.
Saint Lord Sir William Gates Esquire has jumped ship... I wonder why. Writing on the wall? But we won't be buying an Atari or an Apple - that would make no sense whatsoever. We will be putting together the best components and looking for the best OS that doesn't tie us down. Stripped illegal Win XP looks good. Basic functions without the crap. Linux is probably the future.
You should imagine people with no patience whatsoever who have the means and knowledge to control their computers. 200 different desktops (see OS X lemming)? Are you insane? Just hand over the controls.
to you would be, in the words of Will Rogers, that if you find
yourself in a hole, stop digging.
Most people are not as sophisticated and worldly as you
obviously believe you are. For God's sake, just let them back up
their stuff automatically instead of trying to convince everyone
that your way is better.
Have a nice day!
I often do not agree with your points, but I generally respect
what you add to the CNET postings. It is good to share
viewpoints.
Only 4% or so of people back up their stuff at all. You do, and
you do it in a way that works for you. But for Mac users, how
much simpler than automatic can you possibly get? And on the
issue of having an external hard drive, they are so cheap
everyone I know of uses them. Please don't get me started on
DVD media backups. Even if you store them in perfect
conditions, they can and will fail. The concept of backups may
have been around forever, but the simplicity of Apple's Time
Machine has not.
Have a nice day!
digital media to be effective.
from his own mistakes.
...as a long time Windows user, this product would have been great
to protect me from MS mistakes.
Apple would make a fortune if they ported it to Windows!
Does the user get to select a storage device quota alert? What kinda of processing overhead are we talking? Why can't I just have a shadow/image of the drive, in the background, without a performance hit? (That is a trick question)
Why not have an integrated UPS in the powersupply while you are at the acknowledgement that Apple indeed has not provided a system-based backup for the user since???
Desktop computing is over 10 years old and we still don't have a self-healing/self-repairing system.
Users don't want to be bothered with the details; they just want it to work and do better and everytime.
Hey Apple! When are you going to start Function over Form? Instead of vice-versa.
(Please, Mr Dawson, if your comments are to criticize the user, they are unwelcome. But you do make a point!)
done, as with System Restore, but that isn't nearly good enough.
If it were, much more than 4% of users would back up their
systems.
Time Machine may do the same things (it actually does more) as
System Restore, but people will actually use it, and that is the
most important feature any software can have.
Remember that by a wide margin, the slowest, most error prone
part of any computer system (even Windows) is the person at the
keyboard. Form is more important than function because proper
form makes that person less error prone and more efficient.
Instead of blaming the user for not using (96% of the time)
System Restore, it's much better to write software that they'll
actually like to use.
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by gilka2009
July 6, 2009 10:05 AM PDT
- That is a really nice feature to be able to go back in time to recover any missing files or configurations.
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Reply to this comment
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(64 Comments)We often remember the state of our computer rather than the location of a file.
I was wondering how would the interface of the time machine from back to the future would look like today...
http://www.gilka.co.uk/2009/07/05/back-to-the-future-2009/