And the office cafeteria serves stroopwafels ONLY.

And when it's lunch time, the office cafeteria serves stroopwafels ONLY.

I didn't say WHEN you get bored, I said IF you get bored!

I didn't say WHEN you get bored, mind you, I said IF you get bored!
There's a difference!

# Teaching A Course On Git

# Teaching a course on Git

It's a one-day course where we teach the students how to use Git as a developer (none of that GUI stuff of course; command-line For The Win!).

It's a one-day course where I teach the students how to use Git as a developer (none of that GUI stuff of course; command-line For The Win!).

Now the other day a student came to me after attending the course and said: "Git is great and all that, but what is gonna be the next big thing?"

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[http://blog.plasticscm.com/2010/11/version-control-timeline.html](http://blog.plasticscm.com/2010/11/version-control-timeline.html) <!-- .element: class="attribution" -->
note:
This is actually one of the course slides.
And it shows which version control systems have emerged in the past and when they became available.
It tries to put the publication date of each version control system in perspective by comparing them to the most modern phone known at that time.
So, Subversion relates to the Nokia 3210, for example. (*point*)
And CVS relates to the thing with the power plug.
Now, when I talk about this slide during the Git course, I tend to focus on the events of the year 2005.
Because to me, 2005 REALLY stands out in version control history.
I mean, FIVE new version control systems were published in that year. 
In a single year.
To put this number in context, before 2005, it had taken NINE years for five version control systems to emerge.
Starting with VSS in 1994, and ending with BitKeeper in 2003.
And in 2005, it all happened within a few months.
So, who knows why it happened like this?
--- 
note:
The answer is BitKeeper!
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<!-- .slide: data-background="img/background/version-control-timeline.png" data-background-size="contain" data-background-color="white" -->
[http://blog.plasticscm.com/2010/11/version-control-timeline.html](http://blog.plasticscm.com/2010/11/version-control-timeline.html) <!-- .element: class="attribution" -->
note:
Now just because I thought the year 2005 really stood out in this graphic, doesn't necessarily mean it was like that for everyone.
In fact, at the end of the course day a student came to me with a question.
And his question proved that he had noticed an entirely different thing than I had noticed.
Moreover, his 'discovery' - if you will - proved to be a LOT more interesting than mine.
He came over to me and said: "Git is great and all that, but what is gonna be the next big thing?"
So I told him I was quite sure distributed version control systems like Git and Mercurial would be around for a while longer.
But to be honest, I didn't really know the answer.
So it was a great question, actually.

Which was a great question, because I couldn't really answer it.
I was quite sure distributed version control systems like Git and Mercurial would be around for a while longer, so that's what I told him.
And he replied: "Surely Git won't be around forever?!"

And he was right in asking this question, of course.
Because if you look at the chart and you look beyond what you've already seen (the year 2005), then it becomes painfully obvious
In version control land, nothing seems to have happened after 2006.
This is one of those things that, once you see it, you can't UNSEE it.
---
note:

So, whenever I hear somebody say that [insert-product-name-here] "will probably be around forever", it immediately reminds me of...

Now, whenever I hear somebody say that [insert-product-name-here] "will probably be around forever", it immediately reminds me of...

Now if "Change is the only constant" is valid in our industry, then so is "What goes up, must come down".

Now if the idea of "Change is the only constant" is valid in our industry, then so is the idea of "What goes up, must come down".

# Why Is Git So Popular?

# Why has Git become so popular?

Now if we want to be able to predict 'the next big thing' in version control, surely some information on the 'current big thing' is very relevant to our quest.
Moreover, it could be useful to understand how 'the current big thing' became 'the big thing' in the first place.
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[https://blog.gitprime.com/git-didnt-beat-svn-github-did/](https://blog.gitprime.com/git-didnt-beat-svn-github-did/) <!-- .element: class="attribution" -->

note:
Here is some information on how 'the current big thing' - which is Git - became 'the big thing'.

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<!-- .slide: data-background-color="#f9f9f9" data-background="img/background/vcs-popularity-graph.png" data-background-size="60%" --->
[https://blog.gitprime.com/git-didnt-beat-svn-github-did/](https://blog.gitprime.com/git-didnt-beat-svn-github-did/) <!-- .element: class="attribution" -->