GIT

Git every user has a complete copy of the repository data stored locally, thereby making access to file history extremely fast, as well as allowing full functionality when disconnected from the network. It also means every user has a complete backup of the repository. Developed by Linus, developer of Linux, it is an extremely fast Version Control System.

Suppose you have 5 users in your team, when the members “clone” get the entire application copy from the repository, the entire history of all the files of the application is also cloned. This way, even if you are disconnected from the network, you can still traverse through different revisions of a file.

• GIT is local. Once you clone an application/software, even if you are not connected to the network, you can still view the history of a particular file.
• GIT is damn fast ! It is distributed
• Very Confusing. Imagine a 100 people trying to work on a project. Everyone will be pushing (update/upload to central repository), its tough to know which commit is proper and which is not.
• Read/Write access cannot be given to a particular file (in SVN it can be done, a file can be locked from editing)

GIT has its fair share of advantages over SVN and also a share of disadvantages.

Verdict

I personally use SVN because, quite frankly I am a one man developer, so the need of GIT hasn`t hit me yet. Also SVN has a very good UI integrated with Windows Shell (tortoiseSVN), It is as simple as “Right Click -> SVN Checkout -> give url of repository to checkout from and voila.

But lot of people prefer using GIT. In GIT too, checkout or as they call “Cloning ” an application is just one line command. But If you use windows a lot, there is still no proper GUI for GIT. Basically It is all upon your application and how you want to work with your team. Either ways, you would need to learn a lil concepts and basics before proceeding with either of the versioning system.

If you want more information on this, I would really suggest reading http://git.or.cz/gitwiki/GitSvnComparsion for more information regarding the Pros and Cons of both GIT and SVN.