Comment by mhale
5 years ago
I'm working on a project with some offline data synchronization needs, but haven't started implementation yet. I've been following CRDTs with interest. I also saw many of the same downsides mentioned in the OP, e.g. bloat (which apparently are being addressed remarkably well). Beyond OT, another approach I've run across that looks very promising is Differential Synchronization[1] by Neil Fraser. While it also relies on a centralized server, it allows for servers to be chained in such a way that seems to address many of the downsides of OT. I wonder why I rarely ever see Differential Synchronization mentioned here on HN? Is it due to lack of awareness or because of use-case fit issues or some fatal flaw I haven't seen? Or something else?
I devoted some time to Differential Synchronization in my article on CRDTs, if you're interested: http://archagon.net/blog/2018/03/24/data-laced-with-history/...
My sense is that it's not a particularly flexible approach, and falters under adverse network conditions, even though it feels very tempting.