Software migration feature

grvaughan - 04:55am Jun 16, 2004 PST

MailBITS #733 says, "Apple has also added a nifty software improvement, too. A new Mac OS X setup assistant can migrate your data from an existing Mac - including user accounts, applications, system preferences, and permissions - to the Power Mac G5 over a FireWire connection."

I'm surprised this hasn't gotten more attention because it's a feature that could actually help sell more computers. Most people now have dozens of programs installed on their computers, and reinstalling all these, whether after a disk crash or when moving to a new machine is no easy task, especially when multiple updates to many programs must also be dealt with.

While I'm currently on about a 3-year upgrade cycle, I'm inclined to buy a new Mac more frequently except for the huge hassle of moving everything over. In my own case, I've got kids at home wanting a Mac (or a better one) so I have a good use for the old machines, but can't afford the time to redo everything on my computer.

I generally lose about a month getting everything moved over to a new machine, and it's about 6 months until I get things really humming, and then I don't want to mess with it after that.

To me, it seems like the hassle involved with migrating has become one of the main barriers to selling more computers, yet I've seen almost no interest in this by the manufacturers until now.

I hope this new setup assistant really works and that Apple makes it available across their product line by next spring, when my eMac will turn 2 years old.

<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07699>

[We think it is a big deal, which is why we called it out so explicitly. And yes, it will undoubtedly be appearing elsewhere - these were just the first new Macs after it was done. -Adam]