Wasn't this problem already solved by Sharepoint and SVN? If I do a diff from SVN at work, it automatically brings up the compare documents screen in Word.
If your company is of any decent size you have a server of your own, so what's the advantage of putting the repository on Kivo?
Microsoft is always going to have an edge over anyone when it comes to Microsoft Office documents, so even if some of this idea becomes successful, I don't see how it stays out of office for long.
I work in education, so I looked at this with interest (PowerPoint is a teacher's staple, although I personally prefer Reveal.js).
I think a closer model to GitHub and the Windows app would be more useful to me. The Github Windows app is able to pick up differences in Word documents without any trouble already (although probably just text changes).
When working on a project, we normally have multiple files in a directory. A PowerPoint or two, a couple of Word docs and maybe an Excel file. A standalone app, rather than a PowerPoint plugin, would be able to look for all changes in the directory such as the addition of image files.
More importantly I would like to see pull requests. I like to share my resources with other educators, that aren't part of my 'team'. It would be nice if they could make improvements to my resources and then submit a pull request, so I could review what they've done and then accept it.
Just my thoughts. I've long thought we need a GitHub for teachers, but I don't have the skills to implement this yet.
Interesting. We applied with a very similar concept (except starting with Word instead of PowerPoint and with more focus on email and tasks doable on mobile devices) in winter 2012 and got immediately rejected. Our pitch was probably not good enough...
We're working without YC's help anyway and hoping to launch soon :)
I´m working from the air mac but I´ll give it a shot when I get home. This is exactly one of the ideas that I have been wondering with my friends (don´t worry we are with another project right now), git-like collaborative editing, but more centered on docs, as we where working on documentation. Working with several comments and version on the same document is a pain!, good luck with this.
Some questions:
-is there a version map? like a facebook timeline but with all the lines of the branches-users. Where I can see the last commits by user, but also the diff on a slide basis.
-is there a project owner, the one that accepts commits (I suppose there is one)
-I really like sigma´s idea. Be able to split between visual updates and content updates (but not a priority)
-how do you express-print the diff function on a slide? have you considered about a toogle button, or a slider to change between different versions of the different branches?.
-Is the document´s owner able to merge a single slide from a branch(user) that he likes, and then at the next slide choose from another branch(user)?
-How do you manage annotations?
I´ll defenitely check it when I´ll get home, there is a big oportunity here. Personally we have tried with google docs, office 365, and the like, they just don´t work. On a side note if you happen to need distribution for SaaS on a IT basis and want to be able to control how people uses your product (and charge accordingly), just contact us at apparly.com .
I can immediately see use for this product. As a former investment banker, the majority of your time is spent in powerpoint sending different documents back and forth between analyst, associate and VP. Track changes always worked fine in word for the majority of my purposes. I imagine there are a number of investment banks, both bulge bracket and otherwise that could benefit from this.
Definitely seconding a clear use-case for bankers, I've done basic versions of git repo doc sharing;
however the primary concern that I always have with any sort of version control programs is the fact that the documents must be completely internal and within our firewall, any sort of external hosting is usually not secure enough, and most solutions seem to lack easy implementation due to the speed of technology at large banks.
great to hear Chris, some of our very early users were at Investment Banks. Drop me your email on [email protected], I'd love to get your advice on approaching the large ones.
I remember either Asana, Stripe, or Quora suggesting to build a similar program to help your application when applying. I always thought it was a super cool idea, but never got around to building one.
There are two things you'd merge: changes to the whole presentation (i.e. new slides), and multiple changes to the same slide. In the first instance, we slot together the slides and alert the user. In the latter instance (if you sync a change and I sync a change to a single slide), they will both appear chronologically in the list. It is up to the user to merge these versions together.
Automatic merging works well with code because you can move locations of functions and -- to some extent -- chunks of code (although git usually will require some merge resolution); as we are merging something (a slide) which, unlike code, has to appear a certain way visually, this approach doesn't make much sense. Auto-merging together two slides with different content would not have a desirable result. I'd love to hear your ideas on what you think the best UX for this is.
wow! great spot. We used to be called Verse(.io) and wanted to change to a .com. Cove was one of our options but we didn't go with it in the end. Need to add a redirect. How did you find the url?
[+] [-] minor_nitwit|12 years ago|reply
If your company is of any decent size you have a server of your own, so what's the advantage of putting the repository on Kivo?
Microsoft is always going to have an edge over anyone when it comes to Microsoft Office documents, so even if some of this idea becomes successful, I don't see how it stays out of office for long.
[+] [-] djtriptych|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] MarcScott|12 years ago|reply
I think a closer model to GitHub and the Windows app would be more useful to me. The Github Windows app is able to pick up differences in Word documents without any trouble already (although probably just text changes).
When working on a project, we normally have multiple files in a directory. A PowerPoint or two, a couple of Word docs and maybe an Excel file. A standalone app, rather than a PowerPoint plugin, would be able to look for all changes in the directory such as the addition of image files.
More importantly I would like to see pull requests. I like to share my resources with other educators, that aren't part of my 'team'. It would be nice if they could make improvements to my resources and then submit a pull request, so I could review what they've done and then accept it.
Just my thoughts. I've long thought we need a GitHub for teachers, but I don't have the skills to implement this yet.
[+] [-] ahtomski|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] guynamedloren|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] spion|12 years ago|reply
We're working without YC's help anyway and hoping to launch soon :)
[+] [-] omegant|12 years ago|reply
-is there a project owner, the one that accepts commits (I suppose there is one)
-I really like sigma´s idea. Be able to split between visual updates and content updates (but not a priority)
-how do you express-print the diff function on a slide? have you considered about a toogle button, or a slider to change between different versions of the different branches?.
-Is the document´s owner able to merge a single slide from a branch(user) that he likes, and then at the next slide choose from another branch(user)?
-How do you manage annotations?
I´ll defenitely check it when I´ll get home, there is a big oportunity here. Personally we have tried with google docs, office 365, and the like, they just don´t work. On a side note if you happen to need distribution for SaaS on a IT basis and want to be able to control how people uses your product (and charge accordingly), just contact us at apparly.com .
[+] [-] jlgreco|12 years ago|reply
I think it's an idea with a lot of potential, if executed correctly. Great to see they're YC S13!
[+] [-] chrisgd|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] charleyma|12 years ago|reply
however the primary concern that I always have with any sort of version control programs is the fact that the documents must be completely internal and within our firewall, any sort of external hosting is usually not secure enough, and most solutions seem to lack easy implementation due to the speed of technology at large banks.
[+] [-] zefi|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|12 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] Oculus|12 years ago|reply
I'll try and find a link later today.
[+] [-] 6thSigma|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pea|12 years ago|reply
There are two things you'd merge: changes to the whole presentation (i.e. new slides), and multiple changes to the same slide. In the first instance, we slot together the slides and alert the user. In the latter instance (if you sync a change and I sync a change to a single slide), they will both appear chronologically in the list. It is up to the user to merge these versions together.
Automatic merging works well with code because you can move locations of functions and -- to some extent -- chunks of code (although git usually will require some merge resolution); as we are merging something (a slide) which, unlike code, has to appear a certain way visually, this approach doesn't make much sense. Auto-merging together two slides with different content would not have a desirable result. I'd love to hear your ideas on what you think the best UX for this is.
[+] [-] ajaymehta|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jaksmit|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zefi|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kamweti|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zefi|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vladaionescu|12 years ago|reply