Next version of Windows Home Server promises Time Machine-like UI

As we've seen, Microsoft's job postings can often be one of the best places to get early word of potential new products, and it looks like the company's recruiters have done it again, with a new ad offering a glimpse of what might be in store for the next version of Windows Home Server. Most interestingly, the posting includes the little tidbit that Microsoft is looking for someone to help it create a "Time Machine compete UI for backup and restore," as well as a Windows Media Center integration UI, and a Live Mesh integration UI. According to Microsoft, that will help it position Home Server as "THE backup and Media Server within the home" by the time this next release rolls around which, considering that they're still looking for people to help build it, likely won't be anytime soon.

[Via istartedsomething, thanks Anand]

[Ard @ Sep 8th 2008 11:49AM]

MS is laughable, really.

[fred @ Sep 8th 2008 11:55AM]

For providing features to its customers?

Yeah, that's hilarious.

[k2001 @ Sep 8th 2008 11:56AM]

laughable because they are going to add a apple time-machine-like gui to their already exist shadow copy?

[Andir3.0 @ Sep 8th 2008 11:59AM]

Shadow Copy is not Time Machine like. Read more please.

[THJ @ Sep 8th 2008 12:02PM]

Shadow copy only saves previous versions of a document, on the same drive. If your laptop is stolen, and you want to restore all your apps/data from your last 'shadow copy backup,' onto a replacement laptop, you are SOL.

If MS wants to take a bite into Apple, they need to make this feature compatible with remote backup and restore of an entire disk (like a personal Mozy + Ghost, or Apple's time Machine on Steroids.)

[k2001 @ Sep 8th 2008 12:03PM]

The only difference is that time-machine has "slick ui", while shadow copy has lame ui.

[Jubei @ Sep 8th 2008 12:23PM]

"MS is laughable, really."

Indeed. For the person that believes Shadow Copy is just like Time Machine, a little more research is required for this individual. It probably will not make a difference, from my experience with these users, reading and comprehension seems to be broken for them.

[dan2600 @ Sep 8th 2008 12:25PM]

@THJ

why does windows need to? Maxtor....Western Digital....Seagate

they already have this software for PC...and it works fine

its not as nice looking as time machine...but GUIs just need to be functional, not pretty.

[KarlW @ Sep 8th 2008 12:35PM]

I'd agree that Microsoft don't get it. They've lost the plot.

Apple releases Time Machine. It's great because it makes backups really accessible for the first time. No instruction manuals needed, no options to dig through - just click the "on" button and you're set. Need a file? Click an icon in the dock, find your file, and click restore. An infant could figure it out.

That's why 'mac fanboys' exist. Because Apple don't invent things, they reinvent them. They take a great technology like automatic backups, and make it easy to use. Shadow Copies not only doesn't perform the same function (in any capacity. Lost a file? tough. HDD crashed? hard luck.), you need to know it's there and exactly how to use it before you can use it.

Apple make great consumer products by leaving out the options and making things automatic. I don't want to care that my car is adjusting the suspension to make the ride smoother - I expect it to do that. Microsoft make great business and pro products by making everything an option - are you a home user? a premium home user? how about a business user? do you want an ultimate version of the product? do you have a 64-bit processor? Apple users don't need to care about any of that.

[mabhatter @ Sep 8th 2008 12:43PM]

Shadow copy is for servers to "invisibly" make backups at the file level to cover for user mistakes. It has nothing to do with BACKUP software.

Time machine makes incremental backups to an external disk. The fact it backs up is not original, that is incremental is slightly novel in that they use a neat structure to save disk space from duplicated files. The killer feature is that it is plug-n-play. Plug in a disk, get a backup.. plug in the backup to a new computer restore EVERYTHING. With very little hassle. I've used it after wiping my macbook to troubleshoot the software and it restored perfectly... network, wireless, printers, scanners, cookies and passwords, SOFTWARE... Microsoft is incapable of making such an easy to use product without "owning" the process.. and windows software is too crappy to play nice with such software.

[jakem @ Sep 8th 2008 12:47PM]

Windows Home Server has nothing to do with Shadow Copy.

[jakem @ Sep 8th 2008 12:51PM]

@Mabhatter: Unfortuantely Microsoft is more than capable of providing the sort of backup you referred to and it's called Windows Home Server. Perhaps you should do some research because WHS does everything you just mentioned and a whole lot more.

[Level 5 @ Sep 8th 2008 11:51AM]

let the floodgates of mac assholes be cast open!

[Saad Rabia @ Sep 8th 2008 12:06PM]

Milk, came out of my nose.

[UnixSystemsEngineer @ Sep 8th 2008 12:11PM]

... but it's so much more fun to bash Apple without knowing anything about its products!

[Apple Rep. @ Sep 8th 2008 12:14PM]

o0o0oo0 unix just bashed all you apple haters :D
props bro
(:

[ethana2 @ Sep 8th 2008 12:55PM]

Just because they have a better OS than microsoft doesn't mean they're justified in being such control freaks.

Control is NOT a prerequisite of Just Works.

[nohone @ Sep 8th 2008 1:04PM]

@Unix

But it is so much easier to bash Microsoft without knowing the products.

First, Windows Home Server was released, with backup services, on July 16, 2007. Leopard, with Time Machine, was released October 26, 2007. So it could be said that Time Machine is a copy of WHS backup (not that backup is anything new in either WHS or Time Machine). I have not used Time Machine with my Mac, so I don't have much experience with it (my mac does not get enough use nor does it contain any important docs to warrant a backup). But looking over Apple's web site, there is a checkbox to allow you to disable backing up specific directories - just like WHS (which was released first). Time Machine will do a daily backup - just like WHS (which was released first). Time Machine lets you restore your entire computer to a previous state - just like WHS (which was released first).

Oh, and support for Time Machine was going to be added to WHS, but Apple removed support because of problems on their side: http://www.christopherprice.net/windows-home-server-time-machine-fall-apart-63.html

This article is just about making a UI that competes with Time Machine. Oh, the horror! Making something easier to use (Time Machine does look like it would be a bit easier to use) and, gasp COMPETING! We don't want competition with Apple products, the only competition we want is with Microsoft products, Apple should have the market all to themselves when they release something.

(Note, Unix, this went a little bit further than your argument, so not all of it was specifically directed at you)

[tbone @ Sep 8th 2008 1:32PM]

ya, after using various backup software for my PC, after getting my macbook for school, i realized that Time Machine is the best backup software that has ever existed.

[Izzy @ Sep 8th 2008 2:15PM]

@Level 5

LOL

Yep and PC/M$ users are the greatest things on Earth. PC Pricks would be more accurate than M$ fanbois. I could never understand how anyone can be a M$ fan. Using it sure, but a fan of the Great Satan? I don't get it.

And I have 4 PC's, 1 Mac and WHS, they are all fun to use, until the spyware and malware hits.

[Kelmon @ Sep 8th 2008 2:47PM]

@nohone

I understand what you are saying but Windows Home Server was definitely not the first server to provide backup services since they've been used in the enterprise for donkeys years. The important difference here is that Time Machine does not require you to have a server - just an external disk. It's also incredibly efficient with none of the usual application of a full backup and a sequence of incremental updates.

I don't think that anyone is claiming that Time Machine was the first backup solution, just that it is probably the easiest solution for the home user.

Still, if Microsoft wants to provide a backup solution for home Windows users then that's fine by me, although one without Windows Home Server is likely to be more popular.

[nohone @ Sep 8th 2008 3:10PM]

@Kelmon

In what I wrote that there were other solutions before it TM or WHS. And having Time Machine work with an external drive rather than going through a server is a great idea. WHS and TM are very different products that perform somewhat similar functions. Some people here (not you, your comment was not attacking) are trying to compare the two, when there really is no comparison - much like some say that Apple TV and Media Center are in the same class, they are not and serve very different functions with some overlapping. I was just saying that if others want to compare them, then let's compare them.

[happy_penguin @ Sep 8th 2008 3:35PM]

I don't see the point of bashing over this. If Apple has a good idea then Microsoft will try to copy it and vice versa. I want to see good Windows features on my Mac and good Mac features on my Linux/Windows PC. That's progress.

[Andir3.0 @ Sep 8th 2008 11:57AM]

Wait... I thought Microsoft was the biggest innovator in software in the world! Why would they be looking to hire someone to do it for them? Oh wait... that's how all their "innovations" started: buyout.

[k2001 @ Sep 8th 2008 11:59AM]

Because they suck at ui.

[fred @ Sep 8th 2008 12:00PM]

like Coverflow, and multi-touch, and GPS, and 3G, and the HD Mp3 player?

[dan2600 @ Sep 8th 2008 12:25PM]

Mac didn't invent any of those things you idiot fanboi

they just bought the technologies and made pretty GUIs for them

[Serial 8-Ball Mouse @ Sep 8th 2008 12:36PM]

@dan2600

Amen. But, pretty? Mac GUIs look like Fisher Price designed them. But I guess the hordes need their hands held as much as possible.

[Mike B. @ Sep 8th 2008 12:48PM]

because Microsoft is a company that hires programers to make their products? This is a job ad, not a buyout.

[What? @ Sep 8th 2008 12:59PM]

"Mac GUIs look like Fisher Price" ?? Whoat?? No they don't. Mac GUI's (OS X) have very professional zen-grey colour. Windows XP on the other hand LOOKS LIKE FISHER PRICE due to their flashy BLUE, GREEN, SILVER themes. C'mon, XP's blue is more fisher price-like than OS X's grey. Asshole!

[Kurt Tappe @ Sep 8th 2008 1:08PM]

@Dan2600
You think "Mac" is a company and then call someone ELSE an idiot??
Oh, and by the way, where else did you see coverflow before Apple brought it to the masses? I've been using computers for 20 years and never saw mp3's displayed that slickly before coverflow. So go ahead--enlighten us. Further, they did not buy coverflow, they wrote it in house. The only major technology Apple (yes, that's right, the company is named "Apple", not "Mac" you Windows fanboi) has bought lately is multitouch that's used on the iPhone. Gee, it must be tough trying to support MS in the face of facts, eh?

[Ard @ Sep 8th 2008 1:13PM]

@Serial 8-Ball Mouse: So that's why the XP UI (and in the same line Vista (OS X 0.5)) are refered to as Teletubbie UI...

[Serial 8-Ball Mouse @ Sep 8th 2008 1:17PM]

"C'mon, XP's blue is more fisher price-like than OS X's grey. Asshole!"

Teenage fanboy rage is really something.

[Michael Chastain @ Sep 8th 2008 2:11PM]

Kurt Tappe: "Oh, and by the way, where else did you see coverflow before Apple brought it to the masses? ... Further, they did not buy coverflow, they wrote it in house."

Wikipedia: CoverFlow was invented by artist Andrew Coulter Enright[1], and originally implemented by an independent Macintosh developer, Jonathan del Strother.

CoverFlow was purchased by Apple Inc. in 2006, and its technology was integrated into its jukebox application, iTunes 7.0, which was released September 12, 2006.[2] The name was also changed to “Cover Flow”. The last release of Steel Skies’ stand-alone application, version RC1.2, was released the day prior, September 11, 2006. It was freely distributed for that day only, but remains available for download from MacUpdate. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coverflow

Anything else you'd like to make up?

[Jason @ Sep 8th 2008 12:01PM]

MS copying Apple.
Nothing new.

[Federico @ Sep 8th 2008 12:06PM]

Why do you say that? Mojave already has this feature.

[vypergts @ Sep 8th 2008 12:09PM]

WHS was released almost 2 years before Time Machine. Pot have you met kettle?

[fred @ Sep 8th 2008 12:15PM]

@vypergts

Why bother with that bit of trivia?

These guys have an chance to flash their retard Apple fan badges, and nothing is going to put a damper on that.

[John @ Sep 8th 2008 12:21PM]

"WHS was released almost 2 years before Time Machine. Pot have you met kettle?"

Time Machine isn't a copy of WHS. In fact, the two are completely different. WHS is about to copy Apple by including functionality similar to Time Machine with a similar UI.

So no, the pot and the kettle haven't met. Get your facts straight.

[ethana2 @ Sep 8th 2008 12:56PM]

Sometimes Apple does something right-- copying them is generally one way to move forward.

[Normal @ Sep 8th 2008 3:01PM]

@ everyone ranking Federico down

Nobody else caught the sarcasm?

[Decoy @ Sep 8th 2008 8:58PM]

If it was a time machine, can't they go back before WHS was created and release it then?

[Apple Rep. @ Sep 8th 2008 12:03PM]

well well, the biggest me too company is now copying apple once again. surprised? im not, i just get used to it

anybody loving the new mac ads engadget is hosting on their pages? :D

[fred @ Sep 8th 2008 12:11PM]

Thanks clak for yet another bit of rank stupidity.

[Apple Rep. @ Sep 8th 2008 12:13PM]

yes im stupid because MS copies apple. what do you enjoy more, commenting me off subject, or continuing to deny my post? hmmm? :)

[fred @ Sep 8th 2008 12:19PM]

That super, clak.

Totally rad.

[Major4Play @ Sep 8th 2008 12:46PM]

Try to remember Apple copy M$, M$ copy Apple it's a little thing called "Market forces"
Apple is supposed to be original yet.....
Dashboard = Ripped from Konfabulator (poor guys couldn't afford the patent but sold out to Yahoo! for their payday)
iPod & UI = Ripped from Creative (who they paid to license it recently)
Visual Voicemail = What that revolutionary feature of the iPhone ? Yes they paid out licensing fees for that too
Multi Touch = Basically THE main feature of the iPhone, where did that come from ? Perceptive Pixel an MIT spinoff

Most fan boys try to give Apple the mouse and common OS UI, which was actually Xerox (in the 70s)
Also the dock which also happened to appear in Unix and OS/2 (Stardock made one for OS/2 long before Apple)

So we're really just left with white plastic, which isn't really a new idea is it ? My macbook is white, and while I am a fan of SOME Apple products I find that their irritating under informed foam-at-the-mouth fans are the most off putting thing about macs.

I also think time machine sucks and have it turned off by default if you want a good backup solution for mac try SuperDuper!
I know Steve Jobs hasn't rubbed himself all over it but that makes it more attractive for some of us.

[ard @ Sep 8th 2008 1:22PM]

@Major4play:

remember neXt (notice the X): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NeXT

So whom copying whom

[Apple Rep. @ Sep 8th 2008 1:28PM]

@Major4Play

yet the iphone and imac are the best products out there? there goes your argument, iphone & mac FTW!!

[John @ Sep 8th 2008 2:51PM]

Major difference:

Apple either buys out out a company or licenses its technology.

Microsoft tries to "recreate" the technology in order to bypass licensing/giving credit where it's due.

Example:
Company Q finds out that 2 + 2 = 4 and patents it.
Apple buys Company Q and its patents.

Microsoft, realizing the usefulness of such an equation, comes up with its own competing equation.
Result: 2+1-(1*1)+2 = 4

Result: Apple has a superior, streamlined product directly from the source of innovation, while Microsoft has a less-efficient version that cost them less to produce.