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August 13, 2006
Google's SVN - Initial Impressions
Google recently announced an uptick in their competition for the hearts and minds of developers by rolling out a source code control system that can be used by anyone working on an open source project. For the uninitiated, a code control system allows groups of coders to simultaneously work on source code without accidentally overwriting each other's changes. It also provides a secure, off-site, location to store code so that it is always accessible to team members. After setting up and using (lightly) Google's system, the conclusion I've come to is that it's, well, pretty damn vanilla.
It works as advertised, providing all the basic functionality that it should. But, it doesn't do anything more than the SVN (SVN being a code control system) server that I set up at work in an afternoon. Okay, the server at work won't support 10.000 projects the way that Google's will. But that's a moot point for the individual developer who just wants to check out some code. So the value that the system provides is going to be primarily to Google, who have thousands of coders working on projects 24/7. They can use a version of the system to keep track of all the intellectual property that Goog is creating, essentially working as a giant owner's equity tracking tool. But for me, or most other independent developers there is no real difference between Google's offering and what I would provide for myself.
Still, it's nice of Google to share their system with us. I don't think it could cost that much to do, and it does help to keep them in view of the coding community. And since I'm rambling about Google, I may as well throw in some unfounded speculation... perhaps having a large number of changing resources to index will help Google to prepare for the future of the web. As the majority of pages come to host content that changes relatvely quickly (compare a MySpace page to a circa '04 vanity page), the indexing algorithms (how often to visit a page, how to check for changes, etc.) will need to evolve. This system is the embodiment of changing resources, and it comes with a set of log files that document what changes occurred and when. How handy.
Posted by ashusta at August 13, 2006 10:42 AM