Versions in OSX Lion
I can't believe we haven't had this before. One of the things you can do very easily on a Linux box is to integrate your documents or config folders into a Version Control System. For the uninitiated, a VCS is typically used by programmers to track changes to programs and allow snapshots or releases / versions to be made. Its not really designed for document folders, but it has the side effect of tracking changes over time to your documents. It can be done seamlessly on a scheduled basis without much intervention on your part. At any point you can revert back in time to previous versions of a file in order to recover changes you might have lost. Its a very handy technique which requires quite a bit of skill to get working seamlessly. Once you use it, you realise how powerful and convenient this can be.
In OSX Lion, Apple has wrapped this functionality in a fantastic GUI for your documents. I was working on a document that went through many layout and artwork changes over a week. At the end of the week, I wanted to see some of the original text and art and was able to use the Versions feature to turn back the time with a slider to find the info I needed. A little slider appears and as you drag it further back in time, you see the document morph through the versions. Its incredibly intuitive and useful and very sexy to use. I hope more and more apps support this feature and I would dearly like to see this functionality duplicated on Linux or even Windows. I expect we'll have a clunky version in Linux within a short time which will mature over time. On Windows, I expect we'll get an over-engineered mess which works in theory, but is broken in some fundamental way. The closest thing we have to this is the version control bundled into Google Docs,
I haven't seen if this functionality extends to applications like Photoshop or non-native apps like The Gimp. I would love if this magic is happening at the OS Level without the application having to be aware, but I guess that's wishful thinking. I will test this next time I boot into OSX. I'd rather spend the next few days getting my Fedora 14 installation upgraded to 15 instead, so I'll leave that question for another day.
At this point, I expect some angry Linux fan criticisms but honestly, this is good stuff! It was $29 well spent to experience this feature alone.
In OSX Lion, Apple has wrapped this functionality in a fantastic GUI for your documents. I was working on a document that went through many layout and artwork changes over a week. At the end of the week, I wanted to see some of the original text and art and was able to use the Versions feature to turn back the time with a slider to find the info I needed. A little slider appears and as you drag it further back in time, you see the document morph through the versions. Its incredibly intuitive and useful and very sexy to use. I hope more and more apps support this feature and I would dearly like to see this functionality duplicated on Linux or even Windows. I expect we'll have a clunky version in Linux within a short time which will mature over time. On Windows, I expect we'll get an over-engineered mess which works in theory, but is broken in some fundamental way. The closest thing we have to this is the version control bundled into Google Docs,
I haven't seen if this functionality extends to applications like Photoshop or non-native apps like The Gimp. I would love if this magic is happening at the OS Level without the application having to be aware, but I guess that's wishful thinking. I will test this next time I boot into OSX. I'd rather spend the next few days getting my Fedora 14 installation upgraded to 15 instead, so I'll leave that question for another day.
At this point, I expect some angry Linux fan criticisms but honestly, this is good stuff! It was $29 well spent to experience this feature alone.
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