1. A method of editing an electronic document created by a first one of a plurality of collaborators connected to a network, said method comprising the steps of: transmitting a copy of said electronic document over said network to at least each of a second and a third one of said plurality of collaborators; receiving from said second and third collaborators, via said network, a first patch from the second collaborator and a second patch from the third collaborator, the first and second patches representing editorial modifications that said second and third collaborators have made to the copies of said electronic document transmitted to said second and third collaborators, wherein the patches are transmitted from said second and third collaborators to said first collaborator separately from each other and from any copy of said electronic document; transmitting, from the first to the second collaborator, an acknowledge receipt for said first patch, and from the first to the third collaborator, an acknowledge receipt for said second patch, the copies of the electronic document transmitted to said second and third collaborators being updated upon receipt of the acknowledge receipts; merging the editorial modification represented by said first and second patches with any local modifications, using said patches, to produce a merged representation of modifications to be made to said electronic document, wherein said merged representation is dependant on whether one or more of said plurality of collaborators was offline at a time when said editorial modifications of said local modification were made; and applying the modifications represented by said merged representation to said electronic document to produce an edited version of said electronic document, the edited version containing data incorporated therein indicating acknowledgment of said modifications made by said second and third collaborators.
10. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the steps of: the third collaborator receiving, from the second collaborator, the first patch, wherein the first patch is transmitted from the second collaborator to the third collaborator separately from any copy of said electronic document; merging the editorial modifications represented by said first patch with the second patch, using said patches, to produce a merged representation of modifications to be made to said copy of the electronic document transmitted to the third collaborator; and applying the modifications represented by said merged representation to said copy of the electronic document transmitted to the third collaborator to produce an edited version of said electronic document.