For the last few months I've been working on a backup program with the
following basic requirements:
- Usable by my mom
- Backups over the internet (i.e., NO CD-Rs, NO Zip Drives, NO Tapes)
- Users donate their disk space to other users
- Encrypted everything (duh)
- Open protocol, open source
- No-cost or low-cost for everyone
Just to be clear, this is NOT a commercial venture and will be as
open-source as makes sense for the project to succeed. Most of this has
already been done commercially except for the first bullet
and the last two (IMO, of course).
I've got version 0.3 ready to go on 10/29, and it will be 90% of what
I'm aiming for in 1.0. To be specific, you can do the following:
- Select types of files to back up
- This includes Office files, pictures, music and video files, and
custom filters
- No Outlook, OE yet (planned for 0.5 or 0.6)
- File types are automatically scanned, found, queued and backed up
- Can see the set of files that are backed up at any time
- Can queue files for retrieval
I need about 10 people to start with, from there I will open things up
as quickly as possible to about 1000 people. We'll keep it at that
maximum until the 1.0 version is released (planning for Spring '06). All
of the beta testers will be exempt from any costs for as long as the
service exists.
Testers should agree to the following:
- Willing to offer significant disk space for others to use (> 1 GB)
- Broadband connections only, to start with (dialups in the 0.4
version)
- Computer should be online at least 80% of the time, preferably ~99%
(e.g., always-on connections)
- Must NOT be an educational, company or government PC (no libraries,
work PCs, schools, etc.)
If you're game, then go to
http://www.myiback.com/ and check it out. If
there's no room left in the beta, or if you have questions, go to the
forums and post a message.
Thanks in advance!
M.