Expect more enshittification coming your way.

  • @merc
    link
    English
    2529 days ago

    I don’t think tech people understand how bad it is that Microsoft owns GitHub.

    GitLab is one of the few places people could go if GitHub enshittifies too much. Google’s stake in it (or full ownership of it) would probably be a good thing, because it would be seen as an important strategic hedge against Microsoft. If it’s bought by a smaller player, I can see GitHub squeezing it into irrelevance.

      • @merc
        link
        English
        -1028 days ago

        It’s ironic that your alternative for GitHub is hosted on GitHub. That doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence.

        • @Eezyville
          link
          English
          628 days ago

          They host on Github for more visibility.

          • @sugar_in_your_tea
            link
            English
            128 days ago

            Yeah, I don’t see how that’s an issue at all. If Github kicks them, they’ll just push to their own instance. They’d lose a few days to reconfigure the CI/CD or whatever, but that’s about it.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      10
      edit-2
      29 days ago

      I just wish GitHub wasn’t part of MS anymore.

      I also don’t want Gitlab owned by another megacorp.

      Something funded by the government but ran by a public org would be ideal.

      • @merc
        link
        English
        1129 days ago

        I just wish GitHub wasn’t part of MS anymore.

        Too bad. Microsoft is using it as part of their extremely long term plan to control the software that developers use to do their jobs. VSCode is another front in that battle. Things are going slowly, but they’re winning.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          529 days ago

          VSCode is another front in that battle. Things are going slowly, but they’re winning.

          They replaced Atom with VSCode, but some of the Atom devs are now working on Zed, which finally has Linux support. Or for a paid alternative, we have the Jetbrains suite, which can be excellent if that’s your thing.

          For Github, we still have Gitlab as an alternative, but once that goes, we have Gitea or Forgejo to move to.

          The thing is that many developers are a vengeful bunch who hate big corps with their enshittification fetishes and love open source solutions. Microsoft has to tread really carefully here.

          • @merc
            link
            English
            628 days ago

            but some of the Atom devs are now working on Zed

            Ok… but just because someone’s working on an alternative doesn’t mean that alternative will be able to unseat VSCode. Microsoft is spending tens of millions per year to gently lock people into VSCode.

            The thing is that many developers are a vengeful bunch who hate big corps with their enshittification fetishes and love open source solutions. Microsoft has to tread really carefully here.

            And they have been treading carefully for decades, and it’s working. The people who supposedly hate big corps mostly use GitHub and VSCode. They’re heating the water very, very slowly, and the frogs are staying in the pot.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        528 days ago

        Something funded by the government but ran by a public org would be ideal.

        “the government” which government?

        I don’t want software beholden to any state interests. I see donationware as the way to go; or if donations can’t sustain server costs, donations for sustaining development, and then a public flagship instance which people can pay to use, or self-host for their own server costs.

      • @sugar_in_your_tea
        link
        English
        128 days ago

        Why the government? There are plenty of free git hosting services out there, take your pick. If gitlab goes away, move to gitea, forgejo, gitosis, etc.

    • AlexanderESmith
      link
      fedilink
      3
      edit-2
      28 days ago

      I’ve been using raw Git for a while now. Glad I switched from GitHub for personal projects.

      Can’t share worth a shit that way, but 90% of my code is highly specific, personal scripts that I just want to maintain history and notes for. And a book I’m writing.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        5
        edit-2
        29 days ago

        The moment I realized that “SSH login” on hosted git forges like GitHub literally just means “there’s a folder on a computer that you’re connecting to over SSH” was crazy to me. I realized that there’s no need to selfhost gitlab, gitea, forgejo. Just put a folder on user@host in the repos folder, then set the origin url to user@host:~/repos/myrepo

        I think there may be some init commands needed before, like git init --bare or something

      • @merc
        link
        English
        229 days ago

        Yeah, I use personal git repos for most things. But, it’s not as convenient if you want to collaborate on something, or if you want to access features like building docker images and having them put into a repo. There’s definitely a need for a place for open-source and free software projects to live. And, I personally don’t want them on a platform owned by Microsoft.