Compare PureCM

VSS is a basic version control tool from Microsoft, which is mainly used by smaller shops. The tool is designed to control file-based revisions, but does not provide sufficient support for task-based and parallel development. See how PureCM compares to VSS:

	Subversion	Visual Source Safe	PureCM
Project Visibility	Folder view No link between branches or labels Different clients needed Command line interface No tracking of ongoing file changes Changelists to separate tasks in a workspace	Folder view No link between branches or labels Windows only GUI No command line interface No tracking of ongoing file changes Individual file-based checkins only	Streams and folder view Stream hierarchy view Cross-platform GUI with task-specific views Command line interface Live file change tracking "My changesets" to separate tasks in a workspace
Parallel Development	Changesets and atomic commits No support for checkpointing Braches are cheap file and folder copies, but not supporting live merge tracking Merging via workspace only No visual folder diff Limited refactoring support	Individual file checkins, no atomic commits No support for checkpointing Branches are physical file and folder copies, bloating the repository Merging of individual file changes only No visual folder diff No refactoring support	Changesets and atomic commits Shelving to checkpoint unfinished changes Stream inheritance, enabling live merge tracking based on merge paths Merging via workspace or directly on the server using Quick Merge Visual stream/folder diff Full refactoring support
Distributed Development	Server connection via TCP/IP or HTTPD No revisioning capability without server connection Proxy Server available via Apache HTTPD (WebDAV) server	Windows folder share No revisioning capability without server connection No repository replication for distributed teams	Server connection via TCP/IP Full support for local offline revisions, diffing, and rollbacks Proxy Server available for distributed teams, offering LAN-speed repository access for read, diff and fetch operations
Issue Integration	Only 3rd party integration with manual issue <-> changeset relationship Java API for 3rd party integration	No integration of issue management No APIs	Bi-directional issue integration, supporting issue merging .NET and Java APIs for 3rd party integration
Security	Manual setup of authentication needed User/password No support for access control lists	Active directory authentication User/password No support for access control lists and inheritance	Active directory authentication User/password Access control lists (ACL) for any hierarchy level down to individual files, including inheritance
Platform Support	Windows Linux, Unix's Mac OS X	Windows	Windows Linux, Solaris Mac OS X