Cornerstone passes Versions on the way to yesterday's finish line

I'm often willing to admit I'm wrong, but I feel especially willing this time around. Thanks, Victoria and to everyone for the valid (and civil) arguments.

Thanks, Brett. Not to continue kicking the horse, but I did think of one more thing that might be interesting to some (and something we are quite proud of). Forrester, the research firm, did a comparison of SCM (software configuration management) systems in use throughout enterprises. Subversion was far and away the leader for what they call "Standalone SCM". It beat out IBM, Borland, Perforce, and others!

Carey Schwaber, the Forrester analyst, wrote, "Subversion was recognized as the sole leader in the Standalone Software Configuration Management (SCM) category and a strong performer in the Software Configuration and Change Management (SCCM) category. The findings were based on Subversion’s strong performance on the following criteria: ability to support geographic distribution, ease of administration, security, price and scalability...Subversion’s ability to scale to meet enterprise needs is well established... "

Check out the full report and vendor comparison here: http://www.collab.net/forrester_wave_report/index.html

OK... I'm stepping off my soapbox now. :)

If you are a Java programmer and use Eclipse on a mac, then you don't have a huge need for a gui client. When you do there is always svnX:

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/development_tools/svnx.html

And considering that subversion now comes standard with Leopard I don't see it going away anytime soon.

I really have to disagree with this articles bias against SVN. And even having read Brett's comments here, the reality is that for vast target audience for source control moves VERY slow and methodically. As people have said, some are still on RCS/CVS let alone moving to subversion.

Individual authors might be able to pick up and move to a new solution, but software companies, and even open source projects with a small amount of people, but spread out across the globe would not change their source control unless there are significant, and i really stress significant reasons for it.

That said, I don't know that GIT will ever be a mass market source control system. Having read up on it, and watched the video google talks about it, and who is was developed for and the benefits of it, I think that many projects and companies will not switch from subversion to GIT. For projects like the linux kernel, it makes sense. For companies with hundreds of various repositories and projects, I don't know that it makes sense. And that goes for now, and probably 5 and also ten years from now.

My comments are not regarding cornerstone or versions, just the underlying source control technologies.

@maybesew

I fit into the category of people who can switch systems with very little effort/concern. In the realm in which I operate, I'm seeing Git gaining popularity. I don't, however, have experience on the large-scale, corporate side of version control.

I'm unsure whether either of these apps are designed to meet the needs of such environments. My impression of the applications (especially Versions) is that they are designed to help introduce Subversion and ease its use. It's that audience for whom I see Subversion aging. My impression could be entirely wrong. As stated in the article, I only gave it a surface level run-through and my conclusions are based on my own realm of experience.

The last paragraph of the article -- the one that says "For those who still have a strong interest in Subversion" -- is not intended to be read with any sarcasm or snarkiness. It's stated with the understanding that there are many, by choice or necessity, who truly do have a strong interest in Subversion. Having learned (as I often do) quite a bit in the comments, I would also retract the bias in the initial bias of the article.

Don't feel bad.
When people talk about video/audio/photo/artsy production stuff I have very little grasp what *they* do. ;-)

But if you would like to know, check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revision_control