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Did they just cut off a significant source of revenue, or do companies that subscribe to Enterprise make them so much more money that it doesn’t matter?

by snazz 8y ago

sdesol 8y ago
Now that they belong to Microsoft, direct revenue is no longer as important. GitHub will probably be treated as a loss leader for the time being, with the long term goal of making it an Enterprise leader. Microsoft will be more than happy to use GitHub for analytics, AI/ML research and to drive developers to their other offerings, especially their cloud ones. Edit: Updated error from "lost" to "loss"
- herodotus 8y ago
  Just FYI - its "loss leader" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_leader https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_leader), although "lost leader" made me chuckle: I thought, for a second, maybe you are talking about Apple instead of Microsoft.
hannasanarion 8y ago
Github was never profitable, private repos were a way to squeeze out a bit of money when they could, but it would never support the service. Now that they're part of Microsoft, Github's corporate goal isn't to be financially solvent anymore, it is to be a loss-leader for Microsoft's other products. Hook people with github, and then get money from them by offering integrations with Azure, Office, Windows, Sharepoint, etc.
- arnvald 8y ago
  Github was always profitable, that's why they only took VC money in 2015, after around 7 years of existence. With VC funding they started looking more at enterprise customers. I believe individual paid accounts were a tiny fraction of total revenue.
tixocloud 8y ago
It’s about getting as much visibility and usage as possible from developers in hopes that you would recommend Github in your organisation. Also provides a strong platform to reach a very targeted audience as well as gauge developer trends.
98codes 8y ago
Microsoft's other git hosting offering, Azure DevOps, has had free, unlimited, private repos for a long time now so it's not really anything new for Microsoft; it's just extending that to more users.
afpx 8y ago
Github allows Microsoft to grab the attention of every software developer on the planet. And, as we know, most software developers are early adopters and enjoy sharing technology with others. With AWS’s quality of service going downhill, and Google’s apparent inability to execute, this gives MS a huge advantage. Remember, AWS is pretty much how Amazon stays profitable.

Did they just cut off a significant source of revenue, or do companies that subscribe to Enterprise make them so much more money that it doesn’t matter?

by snazz 8y ago

Did they just cut off a significant source of revenue, or do companies that subscribe to Enterprise make them so much more money that it doesn’t matter?

sdesol 8y ago

Now that they belong to Microsoft, direct revenue is no longer as important. GitHub will probably be treated as a loss leader for the time being, with the long term goal of making it an Enterprise leader. Microsoft will be more than happy to use GitHub for analytics, AI/ML research and to drive developers to their other offerings, especially their cloud ones. Edit: Updated error from "lost" to "loss"

herodotus 8y ago
Just FYI - its "loss leader" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_leader https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_leader), although "lost leader" made me chuckle: I thought, for a second, maybe you are talking about Apple instead of Microsoft.

hannasanarion 8y ago

Github was never profitable, private repos were a way to squeeze out a bit of money when they could, but it would never support the service. Now that they're part of Microsoft, Github's corporate goal isn't to be financially solvent anymore, it is to be a loss-leader for Microsoft's other products. Hook people with github, and then get money from them by offering integrations with Azure, Office, Windows, Sharepoint, etc.

arnvald 8y ago
Github was always profitable, that's why they only took VC money in 2015, after around 7 years of existence. With VC funding they started looking more at enterprise customers. I believe individual paid accounts were a tiny fraction of total revenue.

tixocloud 8y ago

It’s about getting as much visibility and usage as possible from developers in hopes that you would recommend Github in your organisation. Also provides a strong platform to reach a very targeted audience as well as gauge developer trends.

98codes 8y ago

Microsoft's other git hosting offering, Azure DevOps, has had free, unlimited, private repos for a long time now so it's not really anything new for Microsoft; it's just extending that to more users.

afpx 8y ago

Github allows Microsoft to grab the attention of every software developer on the planet. And, as we know, most software developers are early adopters and enjoy sharing technology with others. With AWS’s quality of service going downhill, and Google’s apparent inability to execute, this gives MS a huge advantage. Remember, AWS is pretty much how Amazon stays profitable.