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Have you ever had that impulse on jumping to that new trend that everyone’s talking about, but you get yourself lost when you try to approach it?

It’s happened to me a few times since I began getting interested in technology and software applications in general.  Sometimes that new tool or device seems to be a great idea, and you think that you or your business could really benefit from it but, when you try to put your hands on it, it just becomes impossible for you to go from the idea to the fact.

Subversion is, in my opinion, one of the typical cases of this statement.  The idea behind it is great, the implementation is very good (no matter what Linus Torvalds says about it), and I don’t know a single person who, after I explain the idea behind the SVN, thinks that is not useful in his/her work environment. So, why doesn’t everyone use it? If it’s so great and so helpful improving control and productivity on projects, how is it that we don’t find subversion controlled projects everywhere?

The answer to me is really easy to point out. Making this thing work out is pretty difficult most of the time! I’ve written before about the strategy to follow when using SVN (from client or sever point of view) and other fine tools you could add to make yourself a nice work environment, but let’s face it, the tech work behind setting this environment is no trip to the beach.  So, many people get tired of trying and just give up more often than they succeed.

So, there’s no hope for those who would like to use subversion without wasting half the time of the project setting it up? Not so fast; there’s still hope.

Once in a while, a great group of dedicated professionals commit to a even greater idea so hard that they come out with that tool designed to make everyone’s life easier.  For the purpose of this article, that tool is Cornerstone, and that nice group of people behind the project is Zennaware.

Cornerstone is that wonderful, easy to use and flexible tool everyone (especially the ones who have dealt with tedious installation and setting processes) is waiting for, even when you’re not aware it’s actually being made.

Being deeply involved with subversion for a few years now, has made me an errant user of many Linux distributions (for server installations), Windows and Linux clients, and, since I’m a diehard Macintosh user, Mac SVN clients, as well.  This has been one of those enriching experiences that you would definitely give away if you had a Cornerstone-like tool from the beginning.  It was a necessity, not a choice, for sure.

Thanks to the work done with Cornerstone by the group at Zennaware, Mac users all around have the chance to use a world-class application meant to make interaction with subversion as easy as it should’ve been from the beginning.

Let’s start with the fact that this is not only a subversion client per se; what we have here is a fully equipped subversion tool—the only thing you’ll need to have in order to manage your projects with subversion from now on is a Mac.  This application brings a fully functional Subversion 1.4/1.5 installation, and every update of subversion will be included in the tool, so you won’t have to worry on updating SVN in your system as an isolated task.

If you prefer, you can use Cornerstone just as a client and keep your dedicated server architecture intact (as it is in my personal case), but that’s exactly my point here: if you prefer, if you want, if you like.  This is an important improvement on the “you have to” way of do things that’s been the rule since the beginning.

Another key factor in the process of building a good application for Mac users is making it Mac-like.  Cornerstone says “Mac Pride” in every click.  The incredible amount of detail reminds me that I’m working in a Mac all the time.  The application is fast, clean and sleek.  The help goes far away from just the application; it also includes subversion documentation and best practices, everything in the Apple Help Book format.

Writing about every nice feature would take another whole article. Rather, I invite you to go to the Zennaware website and see for yourself this wonderful tool and everything it’s capable of.

You’ll have a fully functional trial version for 14 days, and if you make the decision to buy it, you’ll have to pay a reasonable price of $69 for a single user.  You’ll also have a 5-user pack ($259) and a 10-user pack ($449), ideal for the enterprise environment.

Cornerstone is, without a doubt, a great and flexible application made to make our job easier when working with subversion.  You’ll have a nice working environment even if you’re on a laptop with its all-in-one UI mode optimized for use on small displays, or the multiple-window UI mode optimized for use on desktop systems with large (or even multiple) displays.

This is a serious candidate to end my search for subversion tools.

Product [Cornerstone]