Which Mac backup software 2015?

[MrGongGong]

Re the software - when did you last try to use or maintain any Windows based system? Try it sometime, and then go and bash your head against the wall for a few days and then write an essay about which was the worse experience.

One of the projects i'm involved with is a piece of software for schools to use in electroacoustic composition. Endless problems (and i'm NOT doing any of the code malarkey) with multiple OS versions (Win, Mac & Linux) have caused it to be set back over and over.

Though I don't understand why folks assume that Mac 'forces' you to use their software other than the OS (and you can, of course, run others)?

[Anastasius]

....
Re the software - when did you last try to use or maintain any Windows based system? ....!

I remember moving departments within one software company. I'd got the first department to use Macs ...the very first ones that came out. The SE etc. Everything worked well although at the time we never could understand what all the fuss was about emails. It would never catch on. Anyway, I got transferred to a different department who used Windows 95 for their word-processing. I could be heard grumbling for months afterwards.

[Dave2002]

Though I don't understand why folks assume that Mac 'forces' you to use their software other than the OS (and you can, of course, run others)?

Perhaps it's a cost thing.

It is possible to run Microsoft Office on Macs, but usually costs more, since not bundled in. However MS is now trying to get everyone on to a subscription model - which I think is a dreadful idea, but what do I know? Open Office and Libre Office are good enough for most people, and in fact I now prefer these for some tasks.

I don't bother too much with Apple's Numbers, Pages or Keynote. I think Keynote is probably very good - the others much less so.

Much software that "ordinary" people use is available for Macs, or there is something very much equivalent. That's not quite the case with some more specialist software, and not all the software behaves the same on PCs and on Macs.

Re the OS itself, it is possible to run Windows on a Mac using Bootcamp - and also using one of the virtual machine environments, such as Parallels or VMWare - though that might require more memory - say a minimum of 8 Gbytes. I've only tried VirtualBox myself and had limited use of VMWare, but others who use Parallels say it's really good, and there's hardly any performance hit due to the emulation. The problem again with that approach is that the Windows system itself is quite expensive as an extra non included item, whereas it's pretty much "thrown in" with consumer PCs, and many large organisations get the MS software for not a lot with the wheeler dealing done by the purchasing and acquisition departments.

One other thing about the Windows based systems is that there is more software available - some of it very good - though much is available for the Mac OS. Unless I had a very special requirement though I'd still avoid Windows in the same way as the plague or ebola.

If I were to buy a new machine now I'd probably get a 16 Gbyte model, though the costs are perhaps still quite high - but coming down.