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However, it's practically impossible to avoid learning how to use it these days, so "much better UI than git" will never be a compelling selling point for an al

However, it's practically impossible to avoid learning how to use it these days, so "much better UI than git" will never be a compelling selling point for an alternative VCS I think this is true if you think the target market for VCSs is professional software developers only. But there are other people writing code that might care less about the fact that Git is the standard for professional software development and don't want to pay the cost of learning or using Git: data scientists, scientists in general, new media artists, most high school students, etc. I've had a hard time selling Gitless (https://gitless.com https://gitless.com) to undergrad CS students, but it is easy to sell to non-CS students that write code. That said, GitHub is a big thing so any new VCS probably needs some story for Git-compatibility. Even tools that have built-in version control like Overleaf have some way of synchronizing with Git repos.

roca 7y ago
Thanks to Github, git is the standard for non-professional software development as well. My kids are in high school and they're using it. Gitless looks great. It looks like you nailed all the main issues I have with git. If you ensure that people never have to use the regular git interface, maybe it'll take off. I hope so! BTW Daniel was my PhD advisor :-).
- spderosso 7y ago
  Thanks to Github, git is the standard for non-professional software development as well. My kids are in high school and they're using it. Yes, but maybe they care less about using Git compared to another VCS as long as the other VCS interacts with Git and they can put their repo on GitHub. The question is: If you can use a VCS that is easier to learn/use than Git and that is compatible with Git so that you can put your repo on GitHub if you want to, would you use it? If no, why? My guess is that most professional programmers would answer "No, because Git is an industry standard and I need to know Git to get a good job", while other people that write code but have no intention on becoming professional programmers are much more likely to answer "Sure, why not!". If you ask your kids, I'd love to know what they said :) Gitless looks great. It looks like you nailed all the main issues I have with git. If you ensure that people never have to use the regular git interface, maybe it'll take off. I hope so! BTW Daniel was my PhD advisor :-). Thank you!

roca 7y ago

Thanks to Github, git is the standard for non-professional software development as well. My kids are in high school and they're using it. Gitless looks great. It looks like you nailed all the main issues I have with git. If you ensure that people never have to use the regular git interface, maybe it'll take off. I hope so! BTW Daniel was my PhD advisor :-).

spderosso 7y ago
Thanks to Github, git is the standard for non-professional software development as well. My kids are in high school and they're using it. Yes, but maybe they care less about using Git compared to another VCS as long as the other VCS interacts with Git and they can put their repo on GitHub. The question is: If you can use a VCS that is easier to learn/use than Git and that is compatible with Git so that you can put your repo on GitHub if you want to, would you use it? If no, why? My guess is that most professional programmers would answer "No, because Git is an industry standard and I need to know Git to get a good job", while other people that write code but have no intention on becoming professional programmers are much more likely to answer "Sure, why not!". If you ask your kids, I'd love to know what they said :) Gitless looks great. It looks like you nailed all the main issues I have with git. If you ensure that people never have to use the regular git interface, maybe it'll take off. I hope so! BTW Daniel was my PhD advisor :-). Thank you!