It sounds like you're already getting an overwhelming yes, so I'll just add: 1. It's not a bad idea to keep some of your home directory under VC, especially co

It sounds like you're already getting an overwhelming yes, so I'll just add: 1. It's not a bad idea to keep some of your home directory under VC, especially config / preference files and any writing. (This is more useful on Unix, which typically uses text files for nearly everything.) They're also useful for backup. 2. Git and Mercurial (AKA "hg") are both really good, and probably simpler to use than svn. (I suspect the people who say svn are simpler probably learned it first, and then had to learn all the ways that git/hg's designs differ - but those differences make them simpler to set up.) They havea few different features, but have probably 90%+ in common, and you're not going to really know which one would be a better fit for you until you pick one and learn the basics. You can change your mind later.