At the start of June 2018, I had fifty-nine open source repositories hosted on Github. A few of these were forks of other people's work, but the majority were my own original efforts.
Two weeks later, those repositories have all moved to GitLab, and this letter is the only content I intend to continue hosting on Github.
The reason, for those out of the loop, is that Github has been purchased by Microsoft. Why would this prompt me to take such drastic action? The answer can be found in Microsoft's long-standing hostility toward open source software, and the tactics they have employed to fight against it.
Here is a quote from a leaked Microsoft internal memo:
"OSS projects have been able to gain a foothold in many server applications because of the wide utility of highly commoditized, simple protocols. By extending these protocols and developing new protocols, we can deny OSS projects entry into the market."
This strategy is known as "Embrace, Extend, Extinguish". Only time will tell whether Microsoft has truly changed their ways, but to me this acquisition of Github looks suspiciously like the "Embrace" phase. I don't know what their Extend and Extinguish phases would look like, but I expect they have people working on it at the conceptual level. We can expect not to see the results of that work for some years to come, because as Nat Friedman said, they will work hard to earn the trust of developers. Given their historical performance, they have a long road ahead there.
I for one am not going to wait. I love Git as a revision control system, and I began using Github back in 2011 because it was a good service and very convenient. Now there are many other platforms out there providing similar services, and there's absolutely no reason to use one owned by a long-term enemy of all things open source. My repositories have all moved here:
If you want to read some more about Microsoft's historical stance on open source software, have a look at Eric S. Raymond's site:
http://www.catb.org/esr/halloween/
I'm also going to give a shout out to Gogs as a great lightweight system to host your own web-based repository management if you want to.
Whichever platform you choose, think for yourself, keep your eyes open, and make the best decisions you can with the information available.
Happy coding!
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--Jude Hungerford.