Re: [VM] The "Google docs" paradigm

[Stefan Monnier]

> The main problem with providing such a function is that it is at odds with
> the Emacs philosophy.  Long-time Emacs users are used to the idea that they
> can make changes to buffers inside Emacs and discard the changes if things
> go wrong.  In VM, I often end up expunging a folder and then realizing that
> I shouldn't have.  Then I can reload the folder and return to the version on
> the disk or the server.  If the changes get saved asynchronously without my
> control, I would lose that ability to discard.

I think the way forward is to combine the two: use the DVCS-like model
combined with eager background push&pull.

The DVCS model gives you fast local accesses decoupled from the network
latency, handling concurrent accesses from various machines, and the
ability to recover from mistakes; while the background push&pull saves
you from the need to remember to "save".

The main problem with this model is that DVCS requires the ability to
merge changes, and for such merges to be understandable.  This works
great on "text files", but progress has been slow on generalizing it.


        Stefan "waiting for a DVCS-based filesystem"