4 ms·

Distributing across different services wouldn't be a bad idea.... I still can't help but feel a little grateful for what they do across the free side of things

Distributing across different services wouldn't be a bad idea.... I still can't help but feel a little grateful for what they do across the free side of things. I know it isn't altruism, and I know nobody needs to defend a billion dollar corporation but... Name another service that does what they do for FREE (and no ads) at this scale. It isn't easy. Wikipedia has probably more usage, but is a simpler endeavor. (except the moderation part, that's just amazing) Open Street map? Smaller and simpler. Internet archive? Again, smaller and simpler. Linux distro mirrors? Again, smaller and simpler than whatever github is doing for free.

steve-atx-7600 2mo ago
“ Name another service that does what they do for FREE (and no ads) at this scale” and is reliable is the question
- altcognito 2mo ago
  That's fair! I'd say kids today are spoiled, but there's no doubt that this has been a rough year for github even if it is understandable circumstances.
tcmart14 2mo ago
My only push back would be on the FREE part. I coulda bought that 5 years ago. Now I look at GitHub and go, "if the product is free, it's because Im the product" with all their co-pilot stuff.
- altcognito 2mo ago
  Another fair take. I mean, hell, a lot of companies are bought literally just for their user lists (to sell new products to). I can't think of a nicer user list than a list of potential developers.
  - tcmart14 2mo ago
    My guess is, user list would be the least. Microsoft has this thing about getting you all warm and snug because they have a solution for everything. Need an IDE? VS Code and VS proper. Got your hosting needs (azure). Literally everything. You wanna build applications around AI. We got you too, along with the VCS to keep your app in and pipelines. Hey, go ahead and send us your data so your AI application is better because you're really just calling our models. Right, and this goes even further. Data is incredibly valuable. And here we are, now paying companies to vacuum up all our data. Every last bit. And I am just seeing GitHub as another way to get people in the door to do just that. Probably the biggest thing that has me dumbfounded about everything in the AI space and the tooling in GitHub and stuff with co-pilot. They've figured out a way to make us pay them to steal all our valuable data. And to package it up all nice for them with a bow on it and not question it.
Maxion 2mo ago
The point is, GitHub is not free for me (we pay) yet we were also down? IMO definiely time to segregate the free and the paid service. Otherwise those of us who need the service to stay up will have to look for alternatives. The post mortem conclusion should've been to put usage limits on the free tier so paid users aren't killed by them.
TechDebtDevin 2mo ago
[dead]
inigyou 2mo ago
It's been bad because it's crowded out better things. When you put something shit on the market for free you destroy most of the will for customers to pay for a thing, even if it's good, because they can just use the shit free version. This can be an intentional business strategy.
- altcognito 2mo ago
  So, I lived through the Internet Explorer age so I'm familiar with that. I think it is a leap to say there are better alternatives dying to get out. There's no objective way to decide they are stifling innovation. I'm not sure there's some solution for what you're complaining about other than the government coming in and saying they have to split github. What are you advocating for here, or is this just complaining?
  - inigyou 2mo ago
    Why do you think it has to be one of those?
    - altcognito 2mo ago
      I’m not advocating for anything (I was just spitballing) I’d be more interested in what you think would be the legal and fair thing to do.
      - inigyou 2mo ago
        As a general rule, there are no things that can be done about large companies that are both legal and fair.

steve-atx-7600 2mo ago

“ Name another service that does what they do for FREE (and no ads) at this scale” and is reliable is the question

altcognito 2mo ago
That's fair! I'd say kids today are spoiled, but there's no doubt that this has been a rough year for github even if it is understandable circumstances.

tcmart14 2mo ago

My only push back would be on the FREE part. I coulda bought that 5 years ago. Now I look at GitHub and go, "if the product is free, it's because Im the product" with all their co-pilot stuff.

altcognito 2mo ago
Another fair take. I mean, hell, a lot of companies are bought literally just for their user lists (to sell new products to). I can't think of a nicer user list than a list of potential developers.
- tcmart14 2mo ago
  My guess is, user list would be the least. Microsoft has this thing about getting you all warm and snug because they have a solution for everything. Need an IDE? VS Code and VS proper. Got your hosting needs (azure). Literally everything. You wanna build applications around AI. We got you too, along with the VCS to keep your app in and pipelines. Hey, go ahead and send us your data so your AI application is better because you're really just calling our models. Right, and this goes even further. Data is incredibly valuable. And here we are, now paying companies to vacuum up all our data. Every last bit. And I am just seeing GitHub as another way to get people in the door to do just that. Probably the biggest thing that has me dumbfounded about everything in the AI space and the tooling in GitHub and stuff with co-pilot. They've figured out a way to make us pay them to steal all our valuable data. And to package it up all nice for them with a bow on it and not question it.

Maxion 2mo ago

The point is, GitHub is not free for me (we pay) yet we were also down? IMO definiely time to segregate the free and the paid service. Otherwise those of us who need the service to stay up will have to look for alternatives. The post mortem conclusion should've been to put usage limits on the free tier so paid users aren't killed by them.

TechDebtDevin 2mo ago

[dead]

inigyou 2mo ago

It's been bad because it's crowded out better things. When you put something shit on the market for free you destroy most of the will for customers to pay for a thing, even if it's good, because they can just use the shit free version. This can be an intentional business strategy.

altcognito 2mo ago
So, I lived through the Internet Explorer age so I'm familiar with that. I think it is a leap to say there are better alternatives dying to get out. There's no objective way to decide they are stifling innovation. I'm not sure there's some solution for what you're complaining about other than the government coming in and saying they have to split github. What are you advocating for here, or is this just complaining?
- inigyou 2mo ago
  Why do you think it has to be one of those?
  - altcognito 2mo ago
    I’m not advocating for anything (I was just spitballing) I’d be more interested in what you think would be the legal and fair thing to do.
    - inigyou 2mo ago
      As a general rule, there are no things that can be done about large companies that are both legal and fair.