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GitHub is not just hosted git. There are other features like the issue tracker, pull requests, editing files and committing from the browser, etc. Also, if e.g

GitHub is not just hosted git. There are other features like the issue tracker, pull requests, editing files and committing from the browser, etc. Also, if e.g. a research group already has a GitHub organization with their open source work (many do), then it's reasonable for them to want private repos under the same umbrella so that they can collaborate using the same tools irrespective of whether the work is open yet.

timr 12y ago
"There are other features like the issue tracker, pull requests, editing files and committing from the browser, etc." Yes, bitbucket also has issue tracking and pull requests. I have no idea if they have file editing from the browser (though they probably do), because I'm a programmer, and I have an editor. I know this is hard to believe, but Github really is a commodity product. There are many alternatives, and they all work pretty much the same -- particularly if you know how to use git from the command line.
- danso 12y ago
  "I know this is hard to believe, but Facebook really is a commodity product, and Friendster and Myspace have been doing it since years ago, and Diaspora is going to do the same thing, except be private and secure" - said someone everytime FB added a controversial feature. There's definitely buy-in and momentum of established products...but sometimes, products in the same space can be differentiated in ways not directly related to their core. Github makes it substantially easier to share and collaborate. And that is why many people prefer it. If you reduce it to "Well other places have git, too"...then that's missing the point of why Github appeals to so many.
  - timr 12y ago
    "Github makes it substantially easier to share and collaborate." Unless you're using git, in which case, it's exactly the same: unlike facebook, I don't need my best friends to be in my git repo to make it useful. In any case, I'm sure there are some folks for whom pull requests or browser-based editing (again: not unique to github) make the difference. But for a team of developers who need private repositories, it's six of one, half a dozen of the other.
- isbadawi 12y ago
  I wasn't implying that these features were unique to GitHub, just that there can be reasons why one might prefer to use GitHub beyond it just being a place to host git repositories. I don't think "hosted git" accurately captures the appeal of GitHub (or bitbucket for that matter). While this is the main premise behind both products, I don't think they're necessarily interchangeable in the way you describe.
- sampo 12y ago
  I use the side-by-side diff view feature in Bitbucket a lot, and I am kind of amazed Github does not have that.
- bachmeier 12y ago
  "I have no idea if they have file editing from the browser (though they probably do)" They do. It's turned out to be an awesome feature for me as an org-mode user (so I obviously have an editor). You can add to org-mode files from any web browser and then it's on all your machines with the next git pull.

timr 12y ago

"There are other features like the issue tracker, pull requests, editing files and committing from the browser, etc." Yes, bitbucket also has issue tracking and pull requests. I have no idea if they have file editing from the browser (though they probably do), because I'm a programmer, and I have an editor. I know this is hard to believe, but Github really is a commodity product. There are many alternatives, and they all work pretty much the same -- particularly if you know how to use git from the command line.

danso 12y ago
"I know this is hard to believe, but Facebook really is a commodity product, and Friendster and Myspace have been doing it since years ago, and Diaspora is going to do the same thing, except be private and secure" - said someone everytime FB added a controversial feature. There's definitely buy-in and momentum of established products...but sometimes, products in the same space can be differentiated in ways not directly related to their core. Github makes it substantially easier to share and collaborate. And that is why many people prefer it. If you reduce it to "Well other places have git, too"...then that's missing the point of why Github appeals to so many.
- timr 12y ago
  "Github makes it substantially easier to share and collaborate." Unless you're using git, in which case, it's exactly the same: unlike facebook, I don't need my best friends to be in my git repo to make it useful. In any case, I'm sure there are some folks for whom pull requests or browser-based editing (again: not unique to github) make the difference. But for a team of developers who need private repositories, it's six of one, half a dozen of the other.
isbadawi 12y ago
I wasn't implying that these features were unique to GitHub, just that there can be reasons why one might prefer to use GitHub beyond it just being a place to host git repositories. I don't think "hosted git" accurately captures the appeal of GitHub (or bitbucket for that matter). While this is the main premise behind both products, I don't think they're necessarily interchangeable in the way you describe.
sampo 12y ago
I use the side-by-side diff view feature in Bitbucket a lot, and I am kind of amazed Github does not have that.
bachmeier 12y ago
"I have no idea if they have file editing from the browser (though they probably do)" They do. It's turned out to be an awesome feature for me as an org-mode user (so I obviously have an editor). You can add to org-mode files from any web browser and then it's on all your machines with the next git pull.