6 ms·

What does it mean to be more philosophically aligned with one corporation vs another?

CameronNemo 4y ago
Maybe more philosophically aligned with the product, rather than the corporation behind it. Microsoft is slowly turning GitHub profiles into networking tools and the core SCM offering into a social media experience. GitLab is similar in some ways, but not quite as aggressive about it in my view.
- jeremyjh 4y ago
  Github has always had a social media aspect. Profiles, stars, feeds, followers have been there since early days. One of their tag lines was "social coding".
- 999900000999 4y ago
  Whenever I want to view my private repos, I have to navigate a painful UI first. I'm given badges, and other gamification crap. Then again, when I publish my projects I tend to post them either here or on Reddit. Maybe Microsoft, with some justice, wants a cut of the traffic?
- oxff 4y ago
  I was kind of against this, until I realized the reason I even began programming was purely out of social need (to make a program for me and my friend). I don't really mind it anymore.
TAForObvReasons 4y ago
GitLab offers a free and open source self-hosted "community edition" and understands it to be in their strategic interests to continue with the open source offering. GitHub does not offer it and does not appear to believe that an open source self-hosted offering is in their best interests. Supporting GitLab on those reasons alone, and choosing to pay for GitLab Enterprise Edition because they offer the Community Edition, is "philosophically aligned"
djbusby 4y ago
That the buyer believes in the same thing the company "believes" in. Eg: GitLab has an open-core product and GitHub is owned by (evil?) Microsoft.
- robertlagrant 4y ago
  Also the company is incredibly open, with lots of its documentation and meetings done in public and available on YouTube. Pretty interesting.
mtlynch 4y ago
I like many things Gitlab does: open-sources most of their product, publishes their documentation openly, promotes remote work. I strongly dislike some of the things that Github does: suck up open-source code and re-sell it through Copilot, stifle competition by offering free services that their non-MS-owned competitors can't afford to offer. I don't think either one is purely good or purely evil. Overall, I like both companies better than average, but I'd rather support Gitlab.
- hawaiianbrah 4y ago
  GitHub also promotes remote work. Most of the company is remote and will always be remote.
  - mtlynch 4y ago
    That's fair, but I think Gitlab promotes it more strongly. They're 100% remote, and they publish guides teaching other companies how to replicate their remote-first setup: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/guide/ https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/guide/
    - inferiorhuman 4y ago
      I interviewed with Github recently (a pretty mediocre experience overall) and it seemed like they've fully committed to remote work. They don't even bother with on site onboarding anymore.
      - hawaiianbrah 4y ago
        GitHub has been fully committed to remote work for years before the pandemic. I suspect they’ll bring back on site onboarding at some point, but maybe not. Sorry to hear your interview experience was mediocre. They’ve been tweaking it, and not for the better in my opinion.
    - soneca 4y ago
      Gitlab advocates for paying local salaries. That’s actually against my “philosophy“ as you put it, as it is against my direct interest, being a non-US based software developer. Their way to promote remote work is, ironically, hurtful to my prospects as a remote worker.

Maybe more philosophically aligned with the product, rather than the corporation behind it. Microsoft is slowly turning GitHub profiles into networking tools and the core SCM offering into a social media experience. GitLab is similar in some ways, but not quite as aggressive about it in my view.

jeremyjh 4y ago
Github has always had a social media aspect. Profiles, stars, feeds, followers have been there since early days. One of their tag lines was "social coding".
999900000999 4y ago
Whenever I want to view my private repos, I have to navigate a painful UI first. I'm given badges, and other gamification crap. Then again, when I publish my projects I tend to post them either here or on Reddit. Maybe Microsoft, with some justice, wants a cut of the traffic?
oxff 4y ago
I was kind of against this, until I realized the reason I even began programming was purely out of social need (to make a program for me and my friend). I don't really mind it anymore.

TAForObvReasons 4y ago

GitLab offers a free and open source self-hosted "community edition" and understands it to be in their strategic interests to continue with the open source offering. GitHub does not offer it and does not appear to believe that an open source self-hosted offering is in their best interests. Supporting GitLab on those reasons alone, and choosing to pay for GitLab Enterprise Edition because they offer the Community Edition, is "philosophically aligned"

djbusby 4y ago

That the buyer believes in the same thing the company "believes" in. Eg: GitLab has an open-core product and GitHub is owned by (evil?) Microsoft.

robertlagrant 4y ago
Also the company is incredibly open, with lots of its documentation and meetings done in public and available on YouTube. Pretty interesting.

mtlynch 4y ago

I like many things Gitlab does: open-sources most of their product, publishes their documentation openly, promotes remote work. I strongly dislike some of the things that Github does: suck up open-source code and re-sell it through Copilot, stifle competition by offering free services that their non-MS-owned competitors can't afford to offer. I don't think either one is purely good or purely evil. Overall, I like both companies better than average, but I'd rather support Gitlab.

hawaiianbrah 4y ago
GitHub also promotes remote work. Most of the company is remote and will always be remote.
- mtlynch 4y ago
  That's fair, but I think Gitlab promotes it more strongly. They're 100% remote, and they publish guides teaching other companies how to replicate their remote-first setup: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/guide/ https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/guide/
  - inferiorhuman 4y ago
    I interviewed with Github recently (a pretty mediocre experience overall) and it seemed like they've fully committed to remote work. They don't even bother with on site onboarding anymore.
    - hawaiianbrah 4y ago
      GitHub has been fully committed to remote work for years before the pandemic. I suspect they’ll bring back on site onboarding at some point, but maybe not. Sorry to hear your interview experience was mediocre. They’ve been tweaking it, and not for the better in my opinion.
  - soneca 4y ago
    Gitlab advocates for paying local salaries. That’s actually against my “philosophy“ as you put it, as it is against my direct interest, being a non-US based software developer. Their way to promote remote work is, ironically, hurtful to my prospects as a remote worker.