Cool changes! Any plans to ever add Linux support? That’s a dealbreaker for me.
I need to backup both Linux and Windows machines. I wanted to use B2, but restic seems not ideal on Windows.
I ended up buying a Synology NAS (which does offer the same computer backup features + revisioning and all that), and then syncing the backup out to B2. It's not an ideal solution by any means, and I would get rid of my NAS in a heartbeat if there were a real solution for Linux desktops.
It really sucks to have had to go through all of that setup (+ have another machine to maintain) when I just wanted to get things done and know my data was safe.
Would you consider working with the community to find a better solution? Maybe offer a closed source library (a la libspotify, but for Backblaze) for the storage bits + get the community pointed in the right direction for an open source frontend for Linux or something?
> manually call out the outliers
We have never (yet) ejected anybody or asked them to leave for having too much data. What we do request (politely) is that customers with a large amount of data recommend Backblaze Personal Backup to their friends and family with less data to help bring our averages back down.
> Can you abuse Backblaze on Windows or Macintosh?
Backblaze lives on the "averages", and so far the averages for Windows and Macintosh have worked out for us. We don't have any deep pockets (no VC funding) so we have to stay profitable or die. If you are curious what the distribution of customer sizes is, here is a histogram (you will need to zoom in, then use the scrollbar): https://i.imgur.com/iVEuwUT.jpg
Backblaze does not allow running the "Personal Backup Client" on Windows "Server" OS flavors to help the averages. Macintosh are really super successful in the laptop category, but very very few people or businesses run them as servers so again, the averages work out for us (so far).
However, in all of our market research, the Linux users averages would quickly drive us out of business. By definition, Linux is pretty much dedicated to almost exclusively servers, and exclusively dedicated to SUPER technical people who understand exactly how much data they have. We built "Backblaze B2" expressly for these technical customers running Linux. If you know how much data you have, and you have less than average, you will literally save money with Backblaze B2.
Also: money isn't everything. I want to pay for a product that makes my life easier, and B2 ain't it.
I also appreciate your focus on providing the value you know you can to your core audience. Compromising that attention which, as you noted, would possibly jeopardize your ability to exist at all. A ton of companies get this completely backwards.
I think it's harder to detect network mounts in a way that wouldn't have a bunch of false positives on Linux.
I'm using Restic to B2 on Linux, Win and Mac desktops and a Synology NAS (linux based). No problems.
For my purposes, especially with Restic dedupe, plain B2 works out much cheaper than $6/pc/month would. I currently spend around $7/month total for all these.