Original Source

VIRTUAL EDITING AND MICROVERSIONS:
OSMIC
(The Name Needs Changing*)

OSMIC is a different alternative to the way we edit, intended to give deeper control of multiple versions and re-uses of the same material.

Most people do not understand the problems of versioning.

As in many areas where computer people are given control, they tend to think either:
1) either the problem is simple,
or
2) the problem ought to be MADE simple, and to hell with users who think they want more.

The result has been the present popular models of "undo" and file locking.  These crush and mangle creative work wherever computers are now used.

The problems of versioning and backtrack are not simple and need to be appreciated-- and solved-- in their full complexity, rather than simplified for programmer convenience.

THE PROTOTYPE

The objective of this project is simply to demonstrate a richer model of time, versioning and backtrack (and only for sequential documents, which simplifies the problem).

Our prototype demonstration has two parts: a server in Perl, and a client in Emacs.  They may both be run on one machine (for instance, Windows or Linux) or connected across the Internet.
 
We hope to create a more robust version for distribution, without further functionality.  However, when made reliable, it may be useful as a good way of backing up text-- unbound to applications-- across the net.

Unfortunately the name "OSMIC" does not describe the project as it has evolved, and the implementation up to this point does not offer media interconnection (linkage and transclusion).  We hope either to add these aspects or to change the name.

Connected pages from here--
THEORY: MODELS OF TIME, VERSIONS AND BACKTRACK
Structure and Protocol: THE TWO SPOOLS OF OSMIC
________
Installing the prototype software
Using the prototype software
_________
The original defining document (OSMIC.d1m, 96.12.17)