The only thing place I think might need improvement is that first 5 minutes while someone internalizes what exactly tarsnap is.
Yeah, that's always the hardest part -- my hope was that the words "Online backups for the truly paranoid", the pricing in picodollars, and the clean web design would at least start people off with the right idea...
... something as simple as a transcript of a backup session with a hint toward the strong security features...
That would be fantastic... but I'm not sure how to do that. The security of tarsnap is built deep into its core -- there really isn't anything people can see while they use tarsnap which shows them how secure tarsnap is. (I suppose I COULD add some random "AAA blocks encrypted with SHA-256, BBB bytes authenticated with HMAC-SHA256, CCC RSA-2048 private-key operations performed" messages -- but that would run directly counter to the philosophy of cleanliness and minimalism.)
I do like "online backups for the truly paranoid" I think it gets the concept out nicely, but I remember the first time I looked at tarsnap being slightly confused about the mechanism. I don't feel like I'm much help because I can't tell what clicked when I suddenly felt comfortable with the idea.
The security part doesn't need to be anything more than a nod toward that core. Maybe something along the lines of:
Bomb-proof backup in two commands:
<generate a key as simply as possible>
<backup some files>
Nothing terribly fancy but putting a glimpse of the exact product right on the front page seems good. A user can digest that there's (a) encryption (b) online backups (c) a nice pricing scheme in all of about 30 seconds.
Yeah, that's always the hardest part -- my hope was that the words "Online backups for the truly paranoid", the pricing in picodollars, and the clean web design would at least start people off with the right idea...
... something as simple as a transcript of a backup session with a hint toward the strong security features...
That would be fantastic... but I'm not sure how to do that. The security of tarsnap is built deep into its core -- there really isn't anything people can see while they use tarsnap which shows them how secure tarsnap is. (I suppose I COULD add some random "AAA blocks encrypted with SHA-256, BBB bytes authenticated with HMAC-SHA256, CCC RSA-2048 private-key operations performed" messages -- but that would run directly counter to the philosophy of cleanliness and minimalism.)