I'm not claiming that Git is better than Subversion, or that you should use it. I'm merely pointing out that branches in Git have other advantages as well as be

I'm not claiming that Git is better than Subversion, or that you should use it. I'm merely pointing out that branches in Git have other advantages as well as being faster. The fundamental problem with Subversion branches, at least in my view, is that you have to know ahead of time that you want a branch. Perhaps this isn't a problem for you, but it is for me. Sometimes I find myself thinking, "Hang on, is this really the right way to solve this problem?" In Git, I can save my current work in a branch, trot back a few revisions, and try a different approach. In contrast, Subversion encourages a largely linear style of development. I expect some people, like yourself, prefer this approach, finding it conceptually simpler. And that's fine; I'm not saying that's wrong or bad, or that you should stop using Subversion. That's clearly what you're most comfortable with. But a linear development model isn't for everyone. Those of us who like to experiment and backtrack tend to develop in a tree-like fashion, branching off shoots all over the place and pruning the ones that turn out to be a dead end. For this style of development, Git's branching model is significantly better than Subversion's.