Google just released the beta version of writely.com (http://www.writely.com) which is basically a word processor that you use online in your webbrowser. As I see it, the advantage of this is that it is a easy to use collaboration tool and would be a great way to coordinate the efforts of a team making a game.
Multiple people (apparently up to 50) can modify the same document at the same time in real-time. I haven't done this, but apparently it handles conflicts such as two persons modifying the same part at the same time.
Bottom line: it looks like a simple way of sharing and collaborating on a game document. A team could share the design document, work on dialogue, share code snippets, and even add image files. Fast and simple.
So... yeah. Just in case it helps anyone. I'm planning on using it at least.
I think it sounds extra insteresting.
I wish I had a fast connection right now to check it out immediately, but hey I can wait 10 more days or so...
In the meantime I still can't see what will happen if all the parties are trying to alter the same word/sentence. I just can't see the logic right now, but an interesting problem never the less...
Anyhow some feedback will be much appreciated :) yup!
Thanks Vince...
I can see this being useful, but isn't it just the same as a wiki?
@nikolas - as I understand it, if two or more people are trying to edit the same sentence, it sends notification to one or both parties asking who should take priority and who should wait to make the edit. Again, I haven't seen this feature in action.
@Zor - It has the same collaborative abilities as a wiki, but the thing that makes it really useful is the familiar word processor layout and features. My mom could use this, but she'd be lost trying to format a wiki post. Similarly, I'm guessing a lot of the less-tech savvy people on AGS would be more comfortable using this than a wiki.
Again, just an inferrence since I haven't used it much myself yet.
Making wiki-like sites even more accessible to the dumb part of the public that can't figure out simple wiki-code doesn't sound like a very good idea to me :P
Even more people who can vandalize and slander ::)
Voh, that's insulting. People might have interesting and relevant things to say, without being capable of handling even the [italics]easiest[/italics] format code.
My opinion of the average computer user isn't very pleasant to listen to/read about either. I have my reasons :)
Also, screw google for not allowing Opera users on! When I open the website normally, it redirects to http://www.writely.com/?action=unsupported_browser which doesn't show anything. I for some reason can't edit the site specific preferences while on that page.
So I have to go to forum.writely.com, edit site preferences, change forum to www, then set Opera's Browser Identification to "Mask as Internet Explorer", and then I can get into the main site.
AND EVERYTHING WORKS!
So why ban it in the first place? Dumbasses.