Beyond compare is indeed great tool. The price is only complete icing. It provides a lot of simplistic comparing, but it’s directory comparing is really useful, fast, and relaible. It takes a little getting used to, but once you’ve used it a few times you will completely appreciate the power for the price. For those comparing Araxis Merge and don’t the price is a problem, don’t think, just buy Araxis merge. It’s a better tool (I’ve used both extensively in coding and file maintenance efforts; multi-years each), from it’s report generation capabilities (yes I know BC2 has it also, but is much more limited) to it’s sophistication and accuracy of it’s merge engine. For the price of BC2, you will find no better (IMHO) tool to allign directories, files, or lines within a file. I never stop getting amazed at what it accomplishes. The rule based filtering quickly gets rid of the cruft files and allows quick focus on the concerns or areas of change; be they file or directory. It also offers a simplistic save these settings as a named compare allowing storage of session configuration. Same version upgrade and 1 year buyer protection upgrade. This could be important since they are about to release 3.0 and raise the price. Very nice tool. For the price, you cannot go wrong. It works VERY WELL!
If you’re on the edge, the new 3-way merge version is coming out in July (pro version only contains 3-way); scheduled July 31st 2008. Standard will also be available; equivalent to BC2). Price is going up, amount depends on the license you choose. If you buy BC2 now, you 3.0 for free; although BC2 to BC3 Pro will still cost a difference upgrade fee.