[fastball]

You say "requires no additional software", I say "doesn't allow me to use whatever software I want". For example, I can't edit a legal document while SSH'd into a host computer on my firms network.

Also, Track Changes doesn't allow two people to work on a document asynchronously, while git does.

I have seen a ridiculous number of errors in legal documents given the fact that a huge part of the legal profession is to produce solid/error-free documents.

But while the law profession's response to this seems to be just "be a better lawyer", the software industry's response is "build better tools that don't allow me to make errors". I'm sure I don't need to tell you which method I think is preferable in the long term.

[osamagirl69]

I do not particularly agree with the some of the arguments made in this thread for and against the status quo, but some of your statements are factually incorrect.

>For example, I can't edit a legal document while SSH'd into a host computer on my firms network.

Track changes is supported by LibreOffice and its kin, so certainly possible to ssh into a computer on your firms network and edit it. Might require an X server on your local machine, I am not sure if libreoffice works in terminal (but its open source, so if you really wanted to you could add support!) That said, the recommended way to do what you are asking is to run an "Online Office Server", which gives you a online version of word (think google docs, but looks like MS word) that you can access through you VPN or company portal with ssl/tls. Different workflow for different folks I suppose.

>Also, Track Changes doesn't allow two people to work on a document asynchronously, while git does.

Office 2019 has added 'source control like' simultaneous/asynchronous editing when integrated with a Sharepoint server. Multiple people can have the file open, and the save button both commits your changes and pulls whatever other changes have been committed since, with options to resolve conflicts.

Furthermore, with the office 365 version of the office suite (or Online Office Server, which is nearly the same thing but self hosted) it is possible do live editing, whereby multiple people edit the same document simultaneously (google docs style). Not sure why you would want to do that, but it eliminates merge conflicts at least and seems to be pretty popular at my workplace. Especially useful when someone is presenting slides and there is something you don't like in them ;-)

Of course, as long as your document is on a sharepoint server, you get version control built in and can roll back to see the document at any save point, do diffs, etc.

It is true that the FOSS world is more civilized, but Microsoft isn't sitting by idly. They spent $8B on github for a reason, and it wasn't to get their business model.

[fastball]

Sorry, with the first point I wasn't very clear, but what I meant was editing a document from a SSH'd shell, using a CLI text editor like vim, emacs, nano, or any of the plethora of existing tools that work out of the box to edit documents. Editing which can then be checked into version control like git. That is obviously very different from "you can build a CLI for LibreOffice which is currently compatible with the Track Changes implemented by MS Office but might not always be".

Having to use MS Word in the cloud doesn't really scratch the itch I'm talking about either.

That's cool about Office 2019, I did indeed not know about that. Can I perform these Sharepoint-enabled changes while offline? It seems like all of the things you are talking about require a centralized online server in order to do. Regardless, I do not think there is a conflict between the statements "you need Sharepoint to do these things" and "Track Changes cannot do these things".

[madhadron]

> a CLI text editor like vim, emacs, nano, or any of the plethora of existing tools that work out of the box to edit documents.

Asking a world that is used to what came out of Xerox PARC to switch back to 1970's technology on teletype emulators is...the only word I can think of is Quixotic.

[fastball]

The point is not that I want people to switch, it's that software developers have choice and lawyers / etc don't.

To write software, I can use a CLI text editor, a basic GUI text editor, an advanced text editor like Sublime or Atom or VS Code, or a full on IDE like the JetBrains products. I have so much choice, and all of these are interoperable with each other and have different places where they shine. All work with git. I just don't think the same thing can be said for the document-creation workflows around law and such.

[TeMPOraL]

A hammer is pretty much an ancient technology. A battery-powered plastic toy hammer, with buttons that play melodies, is a modern take. Yet serious people use the (modern implementations of) ancient-style hammer to drive nails.

That's my general response to "why use 1970s tech?", though I guess I'm being a bit unfair here. Word is, in some ways, a marvelous piece of engineering. The whole Office suite is. Unfortunately, thanks to path dependence and business strategies, it's also locked in a place where it's not interoperable with anything outside the Office ecosystem by default.

I guess I have an answer to the age-old question: in sci-fi shows, how come nobody in-universe notices their computing technology is, in many areas, ridiculously inefficient and ineffective compared to the old XX/early-XXI-century tech? The answer may be, the sci-fi future tech is built on so many layers of lowest-common-denominator, walled garden, non-interoperable tech that people no longer know how interoperability or efficient computing looks like.

[oceanplexian]

I don't disagree a hammer is still a useful too, a lot like how a pencil and paper can still be a useful tool for architecting software, or when we need to sketch something out. However when it comes time to build a new construction, no, people are not out there hammering every individual nail. They're using nail guns and all manner of power tools to complete the job because it's more consistent and less time consuming.

[kortilla]

Lol, claiming that using text files is somehow a regression is a pretty lame misdirection. You know what else came out of xerox parc? The GUI, the mouse, etc. You know what else is 1970s tech? The internet, databases, etc.

“Being old” is probably the lamest way to claim something shouldn’t be used.