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    "Subversion does it in one way" -- I thought so too, until I started my current job. In my current job, my boss, who claims not to have trust issues, configured the server to require locking. No merging happens in our system. Files are locked on the repository and nobody else can write them without the lock. Top-down control, for those whose constitutions demand it, is definitely something svn does better than git. Commented Sep 30, 2011 at 12:16
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    One advantage of the central repository is ease of backups. If all the checked in code is in one place, and that one place has off-site backup, you don't lose everything if your office burns down. With a DVCS, unless you do off-site backups of the developer's machines, you lose everything that hasn't been pushed to the server that's backed up off-site. Commented Sep 30, 2011 at 12:27
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    Why can't git be used in a centralized manner? Just have one central repository, and your devs can clone and pull and push like they checkout and update and commit. Commented Sep 30, 2011 at 14:12
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    @PaulTomblin - Depending on workflow, Git can provide better backups. For instance, we use private github repos and I frequently push my code up to feature branches. If my coworkers do git fetch origin, each of them has a backup of my code, along with whatever backup Github itself provides. (We regularly prune merged branches, both locally and on Github.) Commented Sep 30, 2011 at 15:27
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    You seem to imply that central is more secure for large companies or governmental work. This is simply not true. If you have a copy of the code on your computer, you have a copy of the code. It doesn't matter if it came from a central server or a central file system holding a DVCS repository. Commented Sep 30, 2011 at 17:32