How can I explain source control (Mercurial/Tortoise specifically) to a non-programmer?

Question

Our company uses Mercurial for source control of a Java web application. It worked so well we started using source control for a bunch of content (PDF files). For our deployment model this worked amazingly and luckily our graphic designer at the time used to be a web developer and understood source control already.

Now we have replaced that fellow with two strictly for print graphic designers. They are amazing at what they do but look scared and confused every time we ask them to use source control. For reference we use Tortoise as we found it was the best option for non-programmers due to its user interface.

Hginit.com is a great way for programmers to learn Mercurial, now how about a website for non-programmers?

Any ideas?

Answer 1

I would explain to them that it's like making a photocopy of your art project through out it's course. During the time that you are drawing, you can discard what you have done and continue from a previous point in time. You can also see what would happen if you started in a different direction from one of the pictures that you made. You can also give a copy to a friend and tell them that they can finish drawing the trees and sky in the background. Later you can merge both of your efforts and see what it looks like. Your friend can also be taking intermittent pictures while they work on the sky and trees. Think of the possibilities!

Answer 2

You can go back to a previous "save", and check the differences between your "saved" versions. Each time you "save" you can also put a comment, like "first draft" or "implemented changes requested by accounting".