But... why? Github has very few attributes that make it suitable as an app store. Sure, you could add payments on top of it, you can make an interface for down

But... why? Github has very few attributes that make it suitable as an app store. Sure, you could add payments on top of it, you can make an interface for downloading releases or subscribing. Or anyone else could build an app store and just use Github repos as an upstream if they care about that stuff. The Github API is good, it wouldn't be hard to for any existing app store to add more integration. And how would this help with anything? Is Microsoft better positioned than Amazon to get apps onto Android devices? Is anyone positioned to get a 3rd-party app store on iOS? What does this solve that FDroid doesn't already solve, how would it better than what we have, and what does Github's core functionality (hosting source code) have to do with distributing apps? If the goal is just to have reproduceable builds or something, most consumers don't care about that. I don't understand what's unique about Github that means they would have any advantage in this space. Most of what the author is saying is that they trust Microsoft. But Microsoft has an app store. Why wouldn't they just focus on improving that? If they can't get that store on Linux or iOS, why would Github be different? I really just don't get what Github could do that would make me as a consumer prefer it over FDroid as a distribution channel. And Windows is already a reasonably open platform already. Certainly on Linux, there's no advantage whatsoever. I feel like there's something I'm missing, I don't understand the gist of what the poster is trying to say. I don't get what the point would be. The only thing I can think of would be adding better support for payments and buying things from repos. But going down that path is problematic because the whole point of Github is that the releases and code that you list is public. A tightly integrated system that made paywalled build artifacts would be a downside, not an upside. The stuff they're already doing with sponsorships is a much better direction for them to go.