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Old 04-14-2008, 10:32 AM
msadesign msadesign is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 12
I think the issue here is the mindset of the user not being understood by the developer. And as a professional designer, I am well aware of how hard it is to understand someone's way of thinking.

More to the point, the user approaches the software trying to solve a particular problem, and the subset of this is wanting to know what is going to happen with his files.

The rules aren't written with that sense, but this is a common pitfall. I've been beta testing a complex drawing package for many years through many iterations [www.engsw.com], published by a very small company. They certainly can't have someone drawing all the time, even though this would richen the program dramatically, and as a result you get lots of UI stuff that really talks more about the application than the user.

In the case of SD, I tried it, and finally bought it, partly out of desperation to leave Retrospect [company was smaller, too, to be fair, and we didn't need some of Retro's features], but largely on the recommendation of MacUser and MacWorld. As I look back on it from a place of years' reading both of those sites, I now know that those reviews and recommendations are based on cursory examinations.

Still, SD is robust at what it does. The biggest frustrations are two: first, knowing exactly what is going to be copied, and what won't be copied, and what will be deleted. This could simply be a list of files or folders or indeed even a typical, Finder-like window showing what happens. And the second frustration, the one starting this thread, is simple lack of flexibility; and on this point there is simply no compromise. Folder to Folder is a must at some point in SD's future.

In some ways, Carbon Copy Cloner tackles both of these points, although it is wrapped in too much jargon to be of use for the casual user, and has some other issues.

No, to me SD is about the easiest backup app to approach, other than Time Machine [and it is fair to say that in some ways TM has muddied the waters and has shifted user expectations by redefining what a backup actually IS and what to expect].

With SD the rub is this: have a look at the description of 'Copy Now', just as an example. Folks, I'm a very experienced Mac user, and I can tell you that there is too much information in that text. By the time I get to the second paragraph my eyes have glazed over and I am struggling to link what I just read in the first graf with the second.

This is what i mean by a better representation of the information, something other than text. A picture, a Finder window, or something; that's why you guys get the big bucks.

Along with all the other small publishers :-)

Michael
www.badlandscaping.com
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