[Bluestrike2]

Writing version control software is hard. There are just so many potential use cases, not to mention the differing perspectives on how users interact with each use case as well as how they're applied to specific projects a user is working on, increased complexity is inevitable. On balance, I think Git manages to strike a good balance with most things even with its unique eccentricities.

Git's popularity isn't because it's the best tool out there for all scenarios. It's popular because it's a distributed system that helped communities grow around code managed with it while removing barriers to entry. In my opinion, that more than anything will be Git's lasting legacy.

[collyw]

I have asked before, how many projects need a distributed version control system? It adds extra complexity to the concepts, and is probably rarely needed. (Distributed, not remote version control, which I can see as being useful).

[justincormack]

You can't do anything that works offline without a distributed system.

You can use a distributed vcs as a centralized one if you want.

[collyw]

Save locally and push when you get online again.