Repository functionality on the file system level with a good(!) AND friendly(!) user interface really is something that lots of people have been waiting for since... well, ever, actually. This could be really, really awesome.
As a software developer, Versions is the feature I'm most excited about. No more need for a private local Subversion.
Ooh, Sandboxing and Privilege Separation!!
Half of the exploits with stuff like Acrobat and Flash have to do with documents carrying rogue, executable code hidden inside. Safari is known for being exploitable, although there aren't any examples in the wild yet.
I'd love to be able to sandbox Acrobat
Reader to only be able to
read files, and not mess with my system. Same with Flash, etc. Hell, being able to make them only open files in my Documents, Desktop, and network shares would be a great step too.
Basically Versions is a fiddle with Time machine. How can people be excited about something so minor?
Time Machine only saves once an hour, which is nowhere near granular enough when you're actively working on a document. But more pertinently, when I got my notebook, I was trying to find ways to have Time Machine backup my workset documents locally, since I want to be able to work wherever, which precludes bringing a portable hard drive with me. This fills that hole very nicely. Especially if it's easy to configure what not to save. For example, I only want to version source files, but not the files that are built from them.
And they're right to do so! Come on folks, I know it's hard to admit it (especially for those of us working in IT) but the enterprise market is going to decline from here on out. Local servers and the cost of maintaining them are going to get less and less important with services moving to the cloud and support being outsourced.
Totally. I think that serious serving will move to the cloud, and that will necessitate local computers being more of a server than ever, as they become more of a hub for consumer devices, and then intermediate between those and the cloud. Putting a server OS in the desktop, and users now move move from the desktop to a hand held, makes sense. Think of how many people use a computer as a media server.