The only way to get stuff automatically backed up is to store it on the network. So many people probably wouldn't have access to anything useful to work with.

Hmm, I hate it when everything you can possibly do is on the network. It's like that for me too (home directories are on NFS) and the couple of times we've lost networking in the computer room have been pretty hellish. Actually, I can't think of a job for years that hasn't involved using the network for everything.. yay modern technology, etc.

Random small-world syndrome thing -- do you know Caroline Berry (wol)?

I could in principle use my local disk and make sure to back stuff up/check it in to the network. That'd also have the advantage of making builds significantly faster - but in practice I haven't found it worth the effort yet. If they start making a habit of breaking things I might, though.

And yes, I do know wol :-)

Cool, I went to school with her. I vaguely remember meeting you at an open day? Long time ago :)

Small world syndrome strikes again.

That would make a difference, yes. I commit often enough that even if my desktop blew up I'd only lose hours of work at most, usually much less than that.