From TNPC issue #3.23...

Veritas Revisited

by Al Gordon
November 9, 2000

Ah, the signs that the year is coming to an end: the leaves change (at least they do in the Northeast), daylight saving time ends, the weather turns colder... and new releases of established software products begin to accelerate.

Among them: the latest edition of Veritas Backup Exec. Through many years, many incarnations, and many patent companies, Backup Exec has been the market-leading backup software, and the new Version 4.5 continues that role.
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/323/tr.cgi?util1

Veritas made the kind of changes in Version 4.5 that are exactly what I like to see: very few.

The easy to use Explorer-like interface is carried over intact, as are the crucial options such as scheduling, catalogs, wizards, and tools for working with backup media. The new version primarily adds support for Windows 2000 and ME, providing users with a solution that will work on any flavor of Windows.

Version 4.5 also supports most new backup hardware, including the new generation of high-speed CD-RW drives. This is especially important, as the 10X RW drives cut backup times down to reasonable levels and greatly improve the practicality of CD backup.

Users of previous versions can upgrade for a modest $29.

I really wish that more software makers would follow this model: if it isn't broke, don't fix it. Just make whatever bug fixes need to be made, and adjust for new hardware and operating systems.

On the less positive side, Veritas is following Symantec down the path of breaking their product lineups into multiple tiers. The new backup products are Veritas Simple Backup, Veritas Backup Exec Desktop, and Veritas Backup Exec Desktop Pro.

Simple backup is a CD-R/RW-only, Win9x/ME-only product, with a streamlined interface, intended for beginning users. It is suitable mainly for backing up your data.

Pro has the same feature set as the past versions of Desktop, and also can handle backups of a peer-to-peer network--a capability aimed at users of the small business and home networking solutions now gaining in popularity. Desktop standard, on the other hand, lacks the peer-to-peer capability. It also does not create disaster recovery disks, as did previous versions of Desktop, but is at the same price point. Disaster recovery requires Desktop Pro, which is more expensive.

To me, this is a backdoor price hike. Upgraders will not suffer, but new users will feel a little pinch in the vicinity of their wallets.

Backup Exec Desktop Pro 4.5
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/323/tr.cgi?util2

Backup Exec Desktop 4.5
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/323/tr.cgi?util3

Simple Backup 2.2
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/323/tr.cgi?util4

You can reach Al Gordon at:
mailto:al@TheNakedPC.com

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