But in svn or p4 those commits are visible to everyone else immediately. With git they are only visible when you are ready to make them so - and you can amend o

But in svn or p4 those commits are visible to everyone else immediately. With git they are only visible when you are ready to make them so - and you can amend or merge them into a single commit or slice them however you want beforehand. Having your own private repo other than what is on the server allows you to experiment and make a lot more mistake without affecting others.