Re: A new collaborative editing package (maybe tangent)

[Yuan Fu <casouri@gmail.com>]

> On Jan 5, 2024, at 8:33 PM, Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org> wrote:
> 
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> 
>> I don’t think we are installing anything into Emacs. Collab-mode,
>> if ever completes, will be like any other Emacs package.
> 
> They are all installed in Emacs.  If we add a package to Emacs that
> choose method A instead of method B, that choice has inertia.  In
> principle, we could later decide method B is better and switch to it.
> But it can be difficult to switch to mainly using method B, and even
> harder to switch entirely.  We would tend to continue in path A
> by inertia.
> 
> I don't know anythng about these two methods for collaborative
> editing, so I have no preference.  I do know that whatever we do about
> this will create inertia for the future.  Rather than letting
> historical chance decide which course we take, let's make a thoughtful
> decision.
> 
> Would it make sense for collab-mode to support both methods?  Are the
> differences just matters of detail, or are the concepts
> incommensurable?

It wouldn’t make sense. As I said, they are significantly different. 

> 
>> Also, since what ever protocol collab-mode uses will be limited to
>> collab-mode itself,
> 
> Why so?  There are other collaborative editing systems, right?  Why
> can't it be compatible with those that use the same method - or at
> least one of them (if they are incompatible with each other)?

I don’t think any one of them are designed with interoperability in mind; most of them are non-free software. Interoperability isn’t my priority either. My priority is to make collab-mode feature-complete, stable, and secure.

Yuan