Backup utility in linux

[Eric S. Johansson]

David wrote:
>>2005/7/10, Stephen R Laniel <steve at laniels.org>:
>>
>>>On Sat, Jul 09, 2005 at 10:37:30PM -0400, C.B. wrote:
>>>
>>>>Those of us new to Linux want to be able to hit the ground running.
>>>>Finnessing the system can come later, but the learning curve is too
>>>>much to try to do everything by CLI at first.
> 
> 
> For my money, using linux without CLI is like driving a Ferrari in first 
> gear. I run OSX and linux side by side. There are LOTS of things that i do 
> even on OSX at the command line.. it's just plain quicker and easier and 
> well worth the learning curve.

I had a horrifying conversation with a friend of mine a couple days ago. 
  He does in-home PC user support and seized exactly what something like 
90+ percent of personal computer users do with their machines.  What 
they do it is:

1 buy a new machine,
2 use it until it gets slow (two or three years),
3 buy a upgrade machine.

If they run back up at all, it's with a GUI program.  The vast majority 
do not run virus checking do not run firewalls and are infested to the 
gills with all sorts of malware.

if they care about malware its because it makes their machine runs slow. 
  Most of the time, they handle the problem by getting a new machine 
because it cost too much to have someone fix the problem for them.

its horrifying.  I find it totally revolting.  But it's entirely 
consistent with the "get in the car and drive" mentality of most users. 
  They want to spend their brainpower on the task they need/want to do 
and don't give a flying Yahoo about the internals.

So, to tell someone to learn how to use the shell in order to backup 
will get you a single digit response (two digit V for non Americans) as 
you watch that person go back to the computer store and get something 
they can use.

It's all about the user interface.  This does not mean graphical with 
pretty pictures.  This means information presented in a way the user can 
understand easily and is guided to the right actions with minimal chance 
of screwing up.

you can have a good user interface using any presentation tool from 
command line to gnome.  It's just easier with graphical presentation 
than it is the command line.

---eric