A real time group editor allows multiple users to edit the same text at the same time from multiple sites across Internet. The real time group editors community has developed a framework called Operational Transformation (OT) for maintaining consistency of shared data. OT differs from other optimistic replication systems by not only ensuring content consistency but also intention consistency. In this paper, we describe the WOOT (WithOut Operational Transformation) framework that ensures intention consistency without following the OT approach. However, thanks to its new viewpoint, WOOT is drastically simpler, more efficient and does not require vector clocks or central sites. The WOOT framework is particularly adapted to very large peer-to-peer networks
