Multiuser systems are very very interesting - and shared programming environments are also very interesting. There aren't many of them around. One in particular that gets, deservedly, a lot of air time is SubEthaEdit for the Mac. As one user types the other users editing the same document can see their edits. Very cool, very very cool.
Well, WebVelocity is a web platform and as such, it runs as a server that you connect to with your web browser. Say you're having trouble with your program and need or want some help. It's as simple as opening up your port to the internet and inviting your colleague in to help you with your program.
That will actually work out of the hat with WebVelocity, however, what I want to know is what sort of specific collaboration features you think the product could eventually get. Now, we're currently heading toward a beta, which will inevitably become a 1.0 release - fancy multiuser features will not be part of that - so consider this blog post a blue skies discussion and feel free to drop any ideas you have in my email account or in the comments below.
Here are some of the ideas I've had - actual feasibility of said ideas is unknown:
- The ability to share a debugger screen
- See changes to the environment highlighted in real time (eg: new classes, renames, etc)
- See changes to code highlighted in real time (like SubEthaEdit)
- The ability to tag along for the ride, following another user around as they do their work
- Locality based annotations as IM, eg: putting comments next to a method