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0 pointsmcguire6y ago0 comments

"GitHub has monopolized open source development."

How exactly has GitHub done that? What actions has GitHub taken, other than providing a useful service?

Open source developers have chosen to make GitHub a near monopoly.

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4 comments · 2 top-level

xlapp6y ago· 2 in thread

Partly choice, partly company pressure on project's key developers (in terms of influence, not code quality or code contributions) to move to GitHub.

Companies love GitHub because they think it provides metrics. Mediocre developers (the kind that gets influence in OSS projects) love GitHub because they appear productive.

matchbok6y ago

Mediocre developers? Please. The arrogance here is astounding and not needed.

KarlKemp6y ago

The number of contributors to Open Source Software has also grown by one or two orders of magnitude since Github came into being and standardised the pull request, replacing sourceforge (yuck), custom bug-trackers (with bugs tracked in yet another custom bug tracker) and mailing lists.

rhinoceraptor6y ago

Github is not just git hosting. It's issues, pull requests, wikis, CI/CD, actions, etc. All of which are lock-in points that would prevent most people from leaving.

I'm not blaming Github for this, I'm just pointing out that this is a serious problem. Even if you're a 100% benevolent company today, there's no telling what will happen in the arbitrary future.

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