I am working on a software project that has a set of source codes that undergo periodic changes. Typically, the code extends to the production environment, and development continues in the development environment. Necessary emergency corrections in production should be transferred to development. A third testing environment may also exist from time to time. Many developers work on this code at the same time, often you need to make changes to the same separate file.
In short, a classic use case for version control software. Unfortunately, we have a stone age IT department, and we are doing all our development in the Windows XP environment, absolutely without the possibility of using any other software without approval, which never happens. We were lucky with Winzip.
So what is the best way to manage the workflow described above without any real tools? At the moment, we are simply editing files on a shared Windows drive, making special working copies in folders with names such as "James Copy of X", making backups using Winzip and calling through the room, "does anyone work on this file on this moment?"
Thanks James
Edit: some clarification:
The irony is that the system is practically not locked - I can download, install and configure TortoiseHg after about 7 minutes. But I need to do this in a book.
I am also actively engaged in obtaining version control software through official channels, but ETA is 6-9 months for this, if I ever, so I just try to do my best with what I have now.
Finally, trust me, you will read about this project on TheDailyWTF one day, so please help me with what I can do now, and not what the management should have done last week.