Yes, it should.

Right now, I think it's 6-10GB depending on the options selected during install. Snow Leopard is supposed to have a much smaller footprint.

OK, I deserved that. :p

Let's assume for the discussion that it's OS X and iWork '09. I'm not going to buy Aperture preinstalled.

I'd avoid iWork - it's pretty lame, IMO. Either spend the cash on MS Office, or if you're looking for a free option, check out OpenOffice or NeoOffice.

I said "smaller footprint" because I'm not sure I'd hold Apple to that 6GB number. I'd expect that you will only see that big of a decrease if you were to do a complete install with all language packs, developer tools, etc.

This, of course, is just a guess.

I found MS Office on the Mac as :rolleyes:as iWork. I use NeoOffice and have Office 2007 installed on my XP virtual machine.

+1 for Openoffice!

I have given CrashPlan a chance but have not had enough time to really check it out.

There is another option called BackBlaze which I may try as well. I like my backups completed automated and offsite, so backing up to an external drive isn't ideal for me.

Myself, I want to backup to an external drive. But what I want is a disk image (that's browsable) so if/when the HD dies I can blast it out there and not have to re-install everything.

Placed another order with Boeing, smaller than the last one.

I've heard good things about BackBlaze. My only hesitation about offsite backups is that you never know how long these companies are going to last. If they suddenly go under, your backups are gone. Additionally, restores from an offsite location take forever!

With CrashPlan, I can keep my backups both in house and offsite on a friends computer if I choose (you can select multiple backup locations). The backup from the friends computer can be moved to an external drive and they can send it to you for a local restore if you ever need to get your data back. If you want to give the remote back up a try, let me know. Like I said, everything is encrypted (can be secured with a passphrase or private key) before being sent/stored so it's pretty safe.

After all of that, I feel like I should say that I am in no way affiliated with CrashPlan. I just really like their software. :)

only 40? but you seem to have made a mistake too....you ordered some 40 gates at DFW airport as well and down on 35% utilization of them! You can save money next month by cleaning that up

I like OpenOffice, but iWork does everything I really need it to do and I've found that I usually need to just open documents rather than edit them.

only way I will do online backup is to my own servers....I don't trust those other companies at all, seen way too many come and go.

I use dropbox for syncing, but not for backups.

I'm looking forward to being done with the move next week. I already have over a billion in cash; should be more like three billion by next week. Hopefully the next year in the game will come by then so I can order the 777-200. Then I will keep more Boeing employees housed and fed. :)