Is there a fundamental difference between backups and version control?

Question

How does version control differ from plain backups?

Let\'s forget about the feature decoration, and concentrate on the soul of version control. Is there a clear line

Answer 1

Perhaps they are fundamentally the same, until you add the word "good".

• "good" VCS is very fast.
• "good" VCS allows multiple sources of changes (multiple users).
• "good" VCS allows merging.

• "good" VCS has metadata, like user-provided descriptions

• "good" backups are distributed geographically

• "good" backups work automatically.