Good gravy, people.  Why didn't you tell me is was this easy to use source control?  Leave it to Craig Shoemaker and his Polymorphic Podcast to, as Denzel Washington's character in Philadelphia said, "Explain it to me like I'm a four-year-old."  I listened to his series on Design Patterns in March of 2007 and it was a revelation.  He produced a show in August of last year called Subversion Quickstart for .NET Developers that I didn't listen to at the time but made a mental note to go back to.  I'm embarrassed to say this, but up to this point I've been using .zip files as my caveman-esque source control system.  In my defense though, it's not like I didn't know what source control was or have access to it.  Visual Source Safe has been available to me for several years.  However, based on everything I'd heard a better alternative would be to print out my code and hide the reams of paper under my mattress.  So here I've been with a growing pile of .zip files and an inferiority complex.  The reason I finally returned to the topic was the browbeating I was getting from magazine articles I've been reading about Agile Programming methods.  "You are using source control, aren't you?", they asked.  I nodded, made up an excuse about having to go turn off my headlights, and pulled up Craig's Quickstart.  It was just what I expected - he made it crazy easy. 

The next question was how can I apply this to my day job?  I knew setting up a source control solution for work would be easy.  I've got access to all the servers I would need for that.  But what about HappyFish?  Whatever I found I wanted it to be:

• On a remote site for easy access
• Trustworthy with respect to backups and security
• Free for closed source projects

SourceForge would probably have been the answer if not for the closed source requirement, but I'm not ready to open HappyFish yet.  My hosting provider seemed like a good place to start.  I use webhost4life.  I've heard good things about other hosts, and even tried one, but no other host gives the same level of features that they offer for the price.  And no other host provides as much user control over their set up in a shared hosting environment.  (If you sign up for their hosting and start with this link then I'll get a credit toward my hosting.  Many thanks.)   At any rate, I checked with them and they don't offer a free source control solution.  Undaunted, I searched on and eventually found Unfuddle.  This is another one of those mysteries of the web - 200MB of free, secure, closed source control hosting space. 

There you have it - from .zip files to true source control in zero dollars.  Thanks Craig.  Thanks Unfuddle.  But it doesn't stop there.  This whole mess started with me reading articles about agile programming techniques.  What good is source control with out a continuous integration solution to go along with it?  I found a free solution for that too.  I'll tell you all about it in the next episode.