You may have heard some hubbub over distributed version control systems recently. You may dismiss it as the next hot thing, the newest flavor of kool-aid currently quenching the collective thirst of the bandwagon jumpers. You, however, have been using Subversion quite happily for some time now. It has treated you pretty well, you know it just fine and you are comfortable with it – I mean, it’s just version control, right?

You may want to give it a second look. Not just at distributed version control systems, but at the real role of version control in your creative toolkit. In this article, I’m going to introduce you to Git, my favorite DVCS, and hopefully show you why it is not only a better version control system than Subversion, but also a revolutionary way to think about how you get your work done.

Now, this isn’t really a how-to on Git – I won’t be going over a lot of specific commands or get you up and running. This is a list of arguments on why you should be seriously considering Git if you’re currently using SVN. To learn Git, there is a free online book called Pro Git that I wrote that will walk you through Git step by step, should this article entice you. For each point I make here, I will be linking to the appropriate section of that book, should you want to find out more about that specific feature of Git.So, first we’re going to look at the inherent advantages of distributed systems over centralized ones. These are things that systems like Subversion simply cannot do. Then we’ll cover the powerful context switching and file crafting tools that are technically possible to do with Subversion, but which Git makes easy enough that you would actually use them. These tools should completely change the way you work and the way you think about working.

Related Articles:
http://blog.teamtreehouse.com/why-you-should-switch-from-subversion-to-git