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Doesn't satisfy the question. The only good point he has is about backing up large media catalogs. I'm not sure why this 1 kink in the wheels should mean no s

Doesn't satisfy the question. The only good point he has is about backing up large media catalogs. I'm not sure why this 1 kink in the wheels should mean no software OTA or no activation OTA or no app syncing OTA. Surely backing your iPad up to your computer doesn't mean your data is backed up. It means the problem has moved from your tablet not being backed up, to your computer not being backed up. What do I sync my MacBook up to? Maybe the answer there is to stop thinking about one device as being the central hub, and distribute the backup amongst all of them. I think the problem is more about habit. Android users didn't have a habit of plugging their phones up to their computers (if they are new smartphone users, which most are). Apple's problem is replacing the habit of doing things way X and instead do them way Y. They could just pull the rug out from under their customers and force them to accept way Y (they've done it in the past), but the habits are not just in how you back up your data. It's in how you spend your money, something Apple absolutely wants to protect. If a customer is comfortable spending their money in way X, Apple must make sure the transition to way Y doesn't end in closed wallets.

ugh 16y ago
It's unlikely that both yout iOS device and your PC will fail at the same time. Backing up an iOS device to a PC is as good as any other backup.
- MatthewPhillips 16y ago
  No, a good backup best practice is to incorporate an off site point into your redundancy plan.
  - brownleej 16y ago
    "Off site" just means in physically different locations, so that some kind of local calamity wouldn't take out both, right? It seems like having it backed up on the PC satisfies that requirement to some extent, since the iPad and the PC are likely to be in different locations a lot of the time. It's not as good as a proper off-site backup, but it's better than nothing.
    - MatthewPhillips 16y ago
      Sure it's better than nothing but it's not a good backup plan. The reasoning was that Apple is holding back OTA updates because this one niche thing isn't covered perfectly (although Carbonite and others do a good job of hands-off online backup). I'm saying that if you're protecting something which isn't very good in the first place, and holding back a lot of good features because of it, that's a bad reason to do so.
      - ugh 16y ago
        It's much better than no backup. An offsite backup offers only little additional security. (Not that it's not worth it. But the difference between no backup and backup is vast, the difference between backup and offsite backup is small. It's like the difference between a $50 dinner and a $100 dinner — noticable but rather irrelevant compared to a combo meal from McDonald's.)
  - ugh 16y ago
    Oh come on. Really? You know exactly what I mean. No need to get pedantic. It's as good as any Time Machine or similar backup, you know, the kind of backup a tiny minority of normal people may actually attempt to make. It's, at any rate, a vast improvment over the kind of baclup most people make (none at all).

ugh 16y ago

It's unlikely that both yout iOS device and your PC will fail at the same time. Backing up an iOS device to a PC is as good as any other backup.

MatthewPhillips 16y ago
No, a good backup best practice is to incorporate an off site point into your redundancy plan.
- brownleej 16y ago
  "Off site" just means in physically different locations, so that some kind of local calamity wouldn't take out both, right? It seems like having it backed up on the PC satisfies that requirement to some extent, since the iPad and the PC are likely to be in different locations a lot of the time. It's not as good as a proper off-site backup, but it's better than nothing.
  - MatthewPhillips 16y ago
    Sure it's better than nothing but it's not a good backup plan. The reasoning was that Apple is holding back OTA updates because this one niche thing isn't covered perfectly (although Carbonite and others do a good job of hands-off online backup). I'm saying that if you're protecting something which isn't very good in the first place, and holding back a lot of good features because of it, that's a bad reason to do so.
    - ugh 16y ago
      It's much better than no backup. An offsite backup offers only little additional security. (Not that it's not worth it. But the difference between no backup and backup is vast, the difference between backup and offsite backup is small. It's like the difference between a $50 dinner and a $100 dinner — noticable but rather irrelevant compared to a combo meal from McDonald's.)
- ugh 16y ago
  Oh come on. Really? You know exactly what I mean. No need to get pedantic. It's as good as any Time Machine or similar backup, you know, the kind of backup a tiny minority of normal people may actually attempt to make. It's, at any rate, a vast improvment over the kind of baclup most people make (none at all).