Although I’ve been exclusively using Linux (ubuntu in particular) for home use (and some freelance projects) for some time now, at job I was stuck with Windows XP. Since I have to deal with a big amount of MS Office documents on a daily basis, incompatibilities with Open Office were not acceptable. Yesterday I decided to try CrossOver and realized that the seamless integration it promises is more than true. In the screenshot you can see Office 2003 on ubuntu edgy that runs really fast, maybe faster than in my bloated windows system:P Anyway, I feel that 40$ are not much for what it offers (if you want to avoid endless experimentation with wine).
antonis.log() 
OS Backups aren’t really a task. A decent backup cron will go for ages.