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So BitBucket and Gitorious and others will need to excel and beat GitHub at their game. Competition will eventually solve this the same way we aren't beholden t

So BitBucket and Gitorious and others will need to excel and beat GitHub at their game. Competition will eventually solve this the same way we aren't beholden to the same methods and sites we used 10 years ago. The next winner may not even exist yet and I expect that the barriers to entry here are not nearly as high as those in other markets that have been disrupted over the last few years.

akerl_ 12y ago
The competition you describe exists now. Having a new "winner" won't change the point being made in the article. I don't agree with the conclusion he came to, but he's pointing out issues with there being a winner whose site is the de facto place where code / project / people go.
- the_watcher 12y ago
  > he's pointing out issues with there being a winner whose site is the de facto place where code / project / people go. That's likely true. However, it ignores whether or not those issues are outweighed by the substantial benefits to a de facto place that everyone goes, which are generally very large.
leorocky 12y ago
GitHub has already won due to networking effects. It's like trying to unseat Facebook as the dominant social network. It will require a sea change in technology used for version control or sharing code.
- Pacabel 12y ago
  We've seen other, similar, widely-used platforms lose prominence rather quickly. SourceForge and Google Code are two such examples (both of which also support Git these days). I see no reason why GitHub would be immune from such forces.
  - pekk 12y ago
    It isn't, but something better has to come along first. We'd still be using Sourceforge if it were not for its successors.
    - the_watcher 12y ago
      This is the key. Also, people need to remember that "better," in the case of taking over market leader position, means that the value add of the improvement must be > the benefits of using the market leader. This is a higher bar than simply newProductX > marketLeader.
    - cothomps 12y ago
      It helps that ad-driven SourceForge seems to be doing its best to shove people off the platform.
- the_watcher 12y ago
  Git wasn't the first version control system. It won because people liked it best. If something better emerges (by better, I don't mean slightly better, but something where value_over_Github > switching_cost, which is often missed when people discuss what is "better" than the current leader), it will replace it

akerl_ 12y ago

The competition you describe exists now. Having a new "winner" won't change the point being made in the article. I don't agree with the conclusion he came to, but he's pointing out issues with there being a winner whose site is the de facto place where code / project / people go.

the_watcher 12y ago
> he's pointing out issues with there being a winner whose site is the de facto place where code / project / people go. That's likely true. However, it ignores whether or not those issues are outweighed by the substantial benefits to a de facto place that everyone goes, which are generally very large.

leorocky 12y ago

GitHub has already won due to networking effects. It's like trying to unseat Facebook as the dominant social network. It will require a sea change in technology used for version control or sharing code.

Pacabel 12y ago
We've seen other, similar, widely-used platforms lose prominence rather quickly. SourceForge and Google Code are two such examples (both of which also support Git these days). I see no reason why GitHub would be immune from such forces.
- pekk 12y ago
  It isn't, but something better has to come along first. We'd still be using Sourceforge if it were not for its successors.
  - the_watcher 12y ago
    This is the key. Also, people need to remember that "better," in the case of taking over market leader position, means that the value add of the improvement must be > the benefits of using the market leader. This is a higher bar than simply newProductX > marketLeader.
  - cothomps 12y ago
    It helps that ad-driven SourceForge seems to be doing its best to shove people off the platform.
the_watcher 12y ago
Git wasn't the first version control system. It won because people liked it best. If something better emerges (by better, I don't mean slightly better, but something where value_over_Github > switching_cost, which is often missed when people discuss what is "better" than the current leader), it will replace it