So I’m reluctant to criticize it, but I do have a few bones to pick. The native Mac software is clear, reliable, and easy to use, and it worked well for me during the year or so I used it. I’ve met the guys who run the company, and they’re great.

I’ve heard nothing but positive comments aboutīackblaze. In terms of basic features, online backup services are more alike than different.īackblaze. With all those links and tabs, CrashPlan looks more like a Web page than a Mac app. So although I could wish for a more modern, Mac-like look and feel, CrashPlan’s use of Java is a non-issue when it comes to security. More importantly, CrashPlan’s built-in version of Java is self-contained, inaccessible to other Java apps and to websites, which are where most Java security exploits originate. That means you can run CrashPlan on your Mac without having to download Oracle’s Java-it behaves just like a stand-alone app. Instead-perhaps as an interim measure while the native app is being perfected-CrashPlan now bundles its own copy of Java. And indeed, the CrashPlan app looks more like a series of web pages than a Mac utility.ĬrashPlan developer Code 42 publicly stated a few years ago that a native Mac app was in the works, but for some reason it has so far failed to materialize. Apart from security issues and ads, apps written in Java tend to have somewhat odd-looking, un-Mac-like user interface elements. You can stillĭownload Java from Oracle yourself if you like, but Oracle has begunīundling adware with it, which makes it even more unappealing. Security issues, enough that Apple stopped including it with OS X starting with 10.7 Lion. Java (or, more specifically, the Java Runtime Environment, or JRE) has a long list of well-known

1 worry I’ve heard about CrashPlan is that it is a Java app, an increasingly rare animal in 2015.

Carbonite vs crashplan