Re: A new collaborative editing package (maybe tangent)

[Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org>]

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  > > 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.

You may be right about that, but it doesn't conclusively answer
the question.

Are you saying that there is NO other implementation of either OT or CRDG
with which we could feasibly interoperate?  It sounds that way, but I'd like
to be sure I understand.

If interoperability is not a feasible option, that is unfortunate, but
it follows we don't need to think about the possibility of
interoperation with existing systems when designing this.

We still need to think carefully about the factors that do apply,
when choosing whic one, or which ones, of OT and CRDG to support.

  > > 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. 

I take your word for it that they are significantly different -- but
that's not a very clear or specific statement.  It doesn't
automatically follow that one program cannot support both methods to
some extent.

I suggest raising the question in this form: if I wanted to support
both, how would I go about it?

Would it make sense for machine A, which is hosting a document, to
communicate with machines B and C using OT, and in parallel to
communicate with machines D, E and F using CRDG?

-- 
Dr Richard Stallman (https://stallman.org)
Chief GNUisance of the GNU Project (https://gnu.org)
Founder, Free Software Foundation (https://fsf.org)
Internet Hall-of-Famer (https://internethalloffame.org)