4 ms·

Integrated version control: call it something like "Tracked Folders" and build the UI into Windows Explorer. Build an efficient set of diff algorithms for text,

by skymt 16y ago

Integrated version control: call it something like "Tracked Folders" and build the UI into Windows Explorer. Build an efficient set of diff algorithms for text, binary, images, and media, plus visual-diff views for each. Make it work with Office's change tracking, so old changes from Office documents are automatically added to the repository. Provide a complete API, so developers can add differs and diff UIs for their own file formats. Integrate it with search, so you can have indexed search through old versions of files. That's quite a project, but it would be a formidable response to Apple's Time Machine (a feature I've personally seen sell a few Macs).

michael_dorfman 16y ago
Actually, VAX/VMS's shipped with a versioning file system, so the technology has been there for a long time.
- ams6110 16y ago
  It's been a LONG time since I've used VMS, but I'm pretty sure that the file versions were just complete copies of the prior version of the file, not deltas as any modern VC system would keep, and there was a limit (perhaps configurable) e.g. you'd have up to the last 10 versions of your file, but not the entire history since creation.
  - michael_dorfman 16y ago
    The versions were indeed complete files and not deltas. The limit to the number of files kept was a user-configurable setting, and there was a series of commands (like PURGE) to get rid of unwanted versions. (There was also an optional directory size quota, to limit disk usage by users.) Obviously, it would take a bit of jiggering to alter the system to use deltas-- but you'd think that there would have been ample opportunity in the past few decades for someone to do that work, if desired.
redacted 16y ago
First steps toward what you want exist in the next OS X: http://www.apple.com/macosx/lion/#versions http://www.apple.com/macosx/lion/#versions I don't know if it has diff capabilities though.

by skymt 16y ago

michael_dorfman 16y ago

Actually, VAX/VMS's shipped with a versioning file system, so the technology has been there for a long time.

ams6110 16y ago
It's been a LONG time since I've used VMS, but I'm pretty sure that the file versions were just complete copies of the prior version of the file, not deltas as any modern VC system would keep, and there was a limit (perhaps configurable) e.g. you'd have up to the last 10 versions of your file, but not the entire history since creation.
- michael_dorfman 16y ago
  The versions were indeed complete files and not deltas. The limit to the number of files kept was a user-configurable setting, and there was a series of commands (like PURGE) to get rid of unwanted versions. (There was also an optional directory size quota, to limit disk usage by users.) Obviously, it would take a bit of jiggering to alter the system to use deltas-- but you'd think that there would have been ample opportunity in the past few decades for someone to do that work, if desired.

redacted 16y ago

First steps toward what you want exist in the next OS X: http://www.apple.com/macosx/lion/#versions http://www.apple.com/macosx/lion/#versions I don't know if it has diff capabilities though.