[vox-tech] collaborative data storage (of excel files)

[Rod Roark]

On Tuesday 15 January 2008 09:33, Dylan Beaudette wrote:
...
> They are currently emailing around a spread sheet file and there have been 
> numerous data accidents. Now they are asking to put the file onto a shared 
> drive, so that they can access it remotely. This sounds like a terrible idea 
> to me- even worse than the previous attempt.

Maybe not.  How about this low-tech locking mechanism:

* When someone, say Jack, wants to update the spreadsheet, he first
  renames it (in its shared location) to "spreadsheet.jack".

* When Jack is done, he renames it back to "spreadsheet".

* Nobody is allowed to modify it without first renaming it, and nobody
  is allowed to rename it if someone else has already done so.
  Violators will be publicly flogged.

Rod