[barrkel]

I like the way CrashPlan works. I use it to back up both Windows and Solaris. The GUI is Java, but I only run it on Windows; the GUI communicates over TCP to the Solaris machine. This seems to me the best compromise.

Similarly, the CrashPlan service itself is written in Java and for binary compatibility, only relies on a little binary library loaded via JNI to accommodate the differences between Linux and Solaris, not to mention Windows and Mac. It doesn't even support Nexenta (OpenSolaris kernel + Debian userland) directly out of the box, but I was able to hand-combine the bits from Linux and Solaris installs to get something working: the moral being, for OSes targeted towards more technically adept users, you may not need as much work as you think, if your app is self-contained enough.

[brianwski]

(Backblaze founder speaking here) - I have always liked the CrashPlan company and they seem like a smart focused team with a solid product. And I've heard other reports that CrashPlan works well on Linux, so people should definitely check them out and give them a fair try.