SimulDocs

Dev tools

version control

SHOW HN2017

220points
115comments
#136of 2,242 in 2017
Top 7%of 2017 by points

How HN took it

MixedNo clear lean

18 positive, 22 neutral or asking, 4 mixed, 14 critical, out of 58 comments about the project. Thread score +0.12.

Idea: 15 for, 10 againstPrivacy: 1 for, 2 againstPricing: 1 for, 1 againstExecution: 0 for, 1 against

The thread, comment by comment

Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.

positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker

What HN said

What people liked

  • Useful idea that fills a real need for versioning Word documents

    From 4 comments
    • Many others have said it already, but I'll say it again: 1. You have a fantastic product 2. Many potential users won't accept to have their documents stored "in the cloud" (even…
      bambax on HN
    • Finally someone is doing this! I've been toying with the idea myself but haven't been able to dedicate time to it, mostly I was deterred by the MS Word format mess. I'm sure it…
      rsp1984 on HN
    • I think if you can get people to use this and try it, you're going to make a ton of cash. This has been needed for years and doing it within Word sounds to me like the absolute…
      thebiglebrewski on HN
    • I think this is a good product, once worked in strategy as an intern at a bank and we basically used manual versioning where we would version using date and time or even content,…
      forkLding on HN
  • Could be valuable for compliance-heavy fields like banking, legal and engineering

    From 3 comments
    • I could recommend this for something like bank compliance. We're stuck with Word and have a largely non-technical staff, but could dramatically improve our performance if our…
      ellius on HN
    • Significant. Most engineering firms (web dev << the development world) have a need for proper documentation, and LibreOffice generally won't cut it either.
      TickleSteve on HN
    • If you had a version that companies could install on a private internal network, you could easily charge between $100 and $1000 a month for this. I work in legal and compliance…
      tmaly on HN

Objections

  • Cloud hosting of confidential documents is a barrier; wants on-premise or self-hosting

    From 3 comments
    • This fills a niche I need but I can't use a service where I upload the documents to your server (unless you can show certification of at least ISO 27001). I would also be willing…
      Beltiras on HN
    • This is very cool, and I wish we had something like this, but I don't see many law firms going for it. Most law firms (and I would guess all major ones) will not allow uploading…
      nvlr on HN
    • Good idea in general, but with one major flaw: no self-hosting option. I can't imagine lawyers will be queuing up to host their sensitive legal documents on someone else's server.
      ZenoArrow on HN
  • Built-in Word Track Changes and SharePoint versioning may already be enough

    From 3 comments
    • This is interesting, but what's wrong with "Track Changes"? (a feature Word had for at least 10+ years now). I believe for most people that is more than enough for version…
      gigelu on HN
    • THIS is how Sharepoint should have worked from day 1. But I guess Microsoft thinks normal office workers won't get version history in their mind.
      therealmarv on HN
    • Unfortunately can't check it out because I get "We are checking what's changed in this version. Won't be long..." for any test docx I upload / blank docx. Maybe server…
      moontear on HN
  • Git references may confuse non-technical target users

    From 2 comments
    • The group of people who still do their day-to-day by passing around Word docs via email or LAN likely does not intersect well with the people who fully understand (or have much…
      pmarreck on HN
    • From the article ``` There is a lot of overlap here with the authoring process of a Word document. You don’t necessarily want the real-time coauthoring experience offered by…
      Atheb on HN

Requests

  • Self-hosting or on-premise installation option

    From 2 comments
    • If you had a version that companies could install on a private internal network, you could easily charge between $100 and $1000 a month for this. I work in legal and compliance…
      tmaly on HN
    • Good idea in general, but with one major flaw: no self-hosting option. I can't imagine lawyers will be queuing up to host their sensitive legal documents on someone else's server.
      ZenoArrow on HN
  • Compare against Track Changes and SharePoint versioning in marketing

    From 2 comments
    • Cool! Here's my unsolicited opinion: you preemptively answer "why wouldn't I just use git?" but I think "why is this better than track changes?" is the question prospective users…
      emodendroket on HN
    • Unfortunately can't check it out because I get "We are checking what's changed in this version. Won't be long..." for any test docx I upload / blank docx. Maybe server…
      moontear on HN
  • Ability to delete documents

    From 1 comment
    • Is there any way to delete documents? I uploaded a trash document just to try it out, but now I can never delete it - only "archive it" which is bugging the OCD side of me
      ythn on HN

Questions

  • How does it handle complex formatting changes?

    From 1 comment
    • Unfortunately can't check it out because I get "We are checking what's changed in this version. Won't be long..." for any test docx I upload / blank docx. Maybe server…
      moontear on HN
  • Why does installation need admin rights?

    From 1 comment

Alternatives named

  • Google Docs

    From 2 comments
    • So Google Docs? It seems close enough. What's the main advantage over Google Docs?
      mtgx on HN
    • Word is tons more powerful than Google Docs, has add-ins, way more formatting and styling. In my mind, Google Doc is not a direct competitor to Word when it comes to professional…
      Khao on HN
  • SharePoint versioning

    From 2 comments
    • Hey OP, this looks like an awesome tool, good job! Just a quick question, would the primary alternative to your product be Microsoft Sharepoint? If so, how would you market your…
      yazan94 on HN
    • THIS is how Sharepoint should have worked from day 1. But I guess Microsoft thinks normal office workers won't get version history in their mind.
      therealmarv on HN
  • Git with pandoc conversion to markdown

    From 1 comment
    • I've used git for word docs for years now. Using pandoc to convert them to markdown allows sensible diffs to be displayed as well. Works great for redlining.
      koolba on HN
  • Draftable compare tool

    From 1 comment
    • If all you need is to diff documents (Word, Excel, PPT, or arbitrary PDFs) then I can't recommend https://draftable.com/compare enough. It's an amazing tool. Granted, you need to…
      btown on HN

Category, keywords, summaries and labels on this page were made by AI (Thread Reader v2) and not checked by hand. Each point links to the comments it came from.

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