Mozy Rocks!

For many years I have been super cautious about making backups. As a software developer, I've seen some people lose an entire day's work, if not more. Personally I've had lots of near calls, but usually a backup saves my hide (and sanity). When I'm actively working on a project, I like to have multiple backups schemas going on at the same time. My current setup is:

Time Machine

As a Mac user, I've got it easy in this department. Windows has similar backup solutions, but they are no where near as easy to setup and use. With Time Machine, I simply plug-in an external USB drive and tell Time Machine to use it for backups. Then I can forget about it until I need to restore something. Time Machine backs up the entire contents of the hard drive, on an hourly basis, so I'm never too far away from a recent backup.

Git VCS

For the code I'm writing, I use a distributed VCS (Version Control System) called Git. It keeps my projects safely organized and provides a permanent tree of source history so I can figure out what changed between versions and am always able to recreate an earlier version. To be sure, a VCS is a vital and important tool for any developer, but the VCS repository itself needs to be backed-up, which Time Machine and Mozy take care of.

Mozy

While Time Machine is great, it has one fatal flaw. It is local. If something disastrous happens, such as a fire, theft, lightning strike, backup media failure, etc., my primary data as well as my local backups could be gone. So, it is essential to have my most important data backed up offsite. I am a very satisfied user of Mozy, an online backup service that has a native Mac client (Windows also, but I'm a Mac zealot). I really believe that online backup is the best way to go. It is possible to take media backups (e.g., DVD's) to a secure offsite location of your own choosing, but that isn't really practical. Too easy to forget and it takes too much time and effort. With Mozy, I tell it what files and/or directories to backup and give it a schedule and leave it be.  It works quietly in the background and after the initial backup is generally quite fast at doing incrementals.  The basic plan allows for unlimited storage, so I can choose what I want backed up, a little or a lot (in my case, a lot).  And it is surprisingly inexpensive. Mozy encrypts the data before transmitting it to their secure servers, and allows the user to choose their own encryption key if so desired.  If something really bad happens I know that my important files are safe and secure. I can restore the data via the Internet, to any computer, or order DVD's if I need to restore a ton of data.  Mozy gives me peace of mind.  Mozy rocks!

From Lynx to Eternity

I've been thinking today about how awesome the web experience has become. It is polished and useful, brimming with beautiful graphics and fun widgets and desktop-like behavior. The whole "web 2.0 / social web" gig. From facebook to twitter to google to wikipedia. How awesome! It truly feels like the world's knowledge is available on the web, in one form or another. Not quite there yet, but close. There isn't much I can't find if I search hard enough for it. How magical it would be to grow up as an inquisitive youngster with all this knowledge available. I remember using physical, hardcopy encyclopedias as a kid. How antiquated. And slow. The worst part was how linear it was. Now, if you are reading a wikipedia article on say, India's history, you can dive into details on Gandhi or explore the works of Indian authors or jump right into a recipe for samosas. Fun beyond description. And that is just the information / knowledge part of the web. The social web adds another layer, something that is morphing us into a highly connected culture, somewhat like the Borg in Star Trek, which is both good and bad. Good because it is irresistible and fun; bad because it could lead to, well, The Borg. Yes, my dear, YOU will be assimilated. RESISTANCE is FUTILE!

What prompted me to write this post, however, was a reflection on using Lynx. Anybody remember that? It was in 1993 or thereabouts. A text-based web browser. Arrow keys to move around and follow links. It was my first real exploration of the World Wide Web. The magic simplicity of hyperlinks revealed to me.  Ut oh ... this is bringing back all kinds of thoughts of technology from years ago, like modems (remember the COOL sounds they made when dialing a number), SCSI hard drives, BBS systems (my software was distributed on BBS's before the web really took off...) and on and on.

Lynx gave way to Mosaic and eventually to Netscape and Internet Explorer. Netscape was okay but compared to today's browser, it was a yucky, dry, bland, boring way to browse a rather mundane web. Oh! Remember the days of web pages filled with 15 different fonts and a bunch of clashing colors and those wonderful animated gifs? (take a gander at the Vintage Web as a digression...)

Okay, enough reminiscing. Back to the future. Whew, that was a close call. Almost got stuck back there. Glad to be back, captain!

Compare Lynx to today's browser experience, particularly Firefox. When you consider the energy brought to the party by add-ons, Firefox is simply amazing. Every few months I check out a new add-on or two. Recently I found one called Cool Previews that lets you see where links lead without having to leave the page you're on. Cool indeed. And, I also found Personas which adds skin-effects. Given how much time I spend in my browser, all these extras really make it a joy to use.

And with tomorrow's visual multi-touch 3D object-oriented viewpanes, combined with things we've barely even dreamed of, the whole techsperience is going to be funner and funner. At least until we invent the Cylons, the Borg, the Terminators, or simply vanish into the upcoming technological singularity........