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File version control for a completely non-technical user?

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MikeBB

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May 21, 2013, 7:27:56 AM5/21/13
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Does anyone have any suggestions for a version control system for a completely
non-technical end user who edits 50MB+ Adobe Captivate files for doing training
presentations?

Captivate project files uses a propriety compressed format that contains
pictures and audio all wrapped up as a single file. These can only be read by
the Adobe Captivate application and nothing else.

Sometimes the person works in the office, other times they work from home using
a laptop and a not very good internet connection.

Ideally the version control would be completely transparent, a bit like the
versioning system used by Dropbox, except not using a server in another country.

Tools like Subversion, Mercurial etc. are too complex and unsuited for these
huge non-text files. Sharepoint is complex to administer and I've seen it loose
data in 2 previous companies.

Back in the 1980's I used the VMS operating system which had a versioning file
system that was perfect for this kind of situation, but since then I haven't
seen anything on Windows or any other operating system that can compare.
Ideas anyone?

Mike


Gary R. Schmidt

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May 21, 2013, 9:39:14 AM5/21/13
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On 21/05/2013 9:27 PM, MikeBB wrote:
[SNIP]
> Back in the 1980's I used the VMS operating system which had a versioning file
> system that was perfect for this kind of situation, but since then I haven't
> seen anything on Windows or any other operating system that can compare.
> Ideas anyone?

Hmm, set them up with a Solaris, BSD, or Linux box with ZFS as the
storage file system, and use snapshots to take copies of the file system.

Run the Adobe thing in a VM.

It's not as neat as a versioning file system (I occasionally pine for
it, on the PDP-11 as well), but it could give them a solution - and with
dedup turned on would use less storage, as well.

Cheers,
Gary B-)

--
When men talk to their friends, they insult each other.
They don't really mean it.
When women talk to their friends, they compliment each other.
They don't mean it either.
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