> N900 has built in functionality for backups, too, but like the iPhone backup system I guess it's not as flexible as rsync in combination with various other system tools.
It would greatly help if he/she described how it is more flexible. I fail to see it, and I regularly do server backups with rsync, so I think I know the tool. On the contrary, my own technical evaluation is that it is a lot less convenient that the native, builtin backup solution, especially because it requires far more work to achieve the same, and it is going to be risky on the face of subsequent OS updates (that might invalidate your backups without you even realizing, unless you have another phone to regularly test your in-house backup/restore solution).
> If it enables me to run the specific software I prefer to use and otherwise couldn't, it's by definition empowering me to do so. The answer is obvious. It's not compensation for a missing feature of the platform; it _is_ a feature of the platform, whether non-power users will make use of it or not
If I understand correctly, you're saying that "having SSH access" is a feature, irrespective of how it can be used. I think everybody would agree with this :)
Instead, what I'm trying to find out is what SSH access enables me to do, with a specific focus on solving problems or implementing features that are not reasonably supposed to be part of the consumer-level features offered by the platform.
You can answer "nothing, but I still like it because I do", of course. I'm not trying to change anyone's behavior. But after 2 years of (not) using SSH access to my smartphone, I'm curious of how other people use it and why.
First of all, I can't answer for pessimizer, but I'll list some potential advantages of using rsync. Second of all, I really need to point out that there's a big difference between convenience and flexibility, so our technical evaluations don't really challenge eachother.
rsync might involve more work, but on the other hand you could have a cron scheduler trigger it at regular intervals, run by a script that only performs a backup under the right network connectivity conditions (eg. the phone is connected to your home or work WLAN). Perhaps you only want to back up part of the system, or maybe you want to back up some parts of it (say, /home) more frequently than others that are susceptible to big changes (/usr/bin?). Perhaps the only thing you really want to back up from your phone are your downloaded email attachements and browser downloads, while having your contacts managed by some cloud service. You've already listed the disadvantages of such a setup, and I agree, but the advantages need to be acknowledged as well. The stream-lined iOS approach might be as one size fits all as it gets, but there could still be cases where a user would reasonably want to handle it differently.
As for what use ssh for, you are being clear now. At first I thought you meant using an ssh client on the phone (in which case the answer would be the generic answer to "what would I use ssh for?"), but running an sshd on your phone could be useful as well. It's a quick and convenient way to move files to it -- think binaries, scripts, crontabs or runit services -- and a quick way of managing these files.
It would greatly help if he/she described how it is more flexible. I fail to see it, and I regularly do server backups with rsync, so I think I know the tool. On the contrary, my own technical evaluation is that it is a lot less convenient that the native, builtin backup solution, especially because it requires far more work to achieve the same, and it is going to be risky on the face of subsequent OS updates (that might invalidate your backups without you even realizing, unless you have another phone to regularly test your in-house backup/restore solution).
> If it enables me to run the specific software I prefer to use and otherwise couldn't, it's by definition empowering me to do so. The answer is obvious. It's not compensation for a missing feature of the platform; it _is_ a feature of the platform, whether non-power users will make use of it or not
If I understand correctly, you're saying that "having SSH access" is a feature, irrespective of how it can be used. I think everybody would agree with this :)
Instead, what I'm trying to find out is what SSH access enables me to do, with a specific focus on solving problems or implementing features that are not reasonably supposed to be part of the consumer-level features offered by the platform.
You can answer "nothing, but I still like it because I do", of course. I'm not trying to change anyone's behavior. But after 2 years of (not) using SSH access to my smartphone, I'm curious of how other people use it and why.