94b101b8da09c87fcc474a0927b28cf0
GitHub Future in Doubt
Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0
THE layoffs have begun. We've been expecting them for about a year and we suppose Microsoft waited as long as it could to avoid sending the 'wrong' message to GitHub staff and users, who are in effect only used for their data (including code). GitHub isn't a viable business (there's no solid business model). As noted in the video above, the layoffs were predictable, there were speculations about them over 3 weeks ago, and there's no easy way to swing into profitability (other companies face similar perils and have faced these even prior to financial crises).
"People whose projects are still hosted in GitHub should plan an exit already. The sooner the departure, the lower the technical debt associated with relocation."People should rethink their dependence on GitHub and, by extension, on NPM and other Microsoft "assets". GitLab, by contrast, can be self-hosted (sort of; the free edition lacks some features). This means that Microsoft boosters who try to lump together GitLab and GitHub (the only connection is that until 2018 GitLab used some Azure, maybe because of heavily discounted rates) are being dishonest. Or, to quote an associate: "Pure misdirection. That there is no connection between GitLab and GitHub is important then."
Microsoft isn't in a good state, but it is infiltrating and paying the media to pretend otherwise. Many Microsoft insiders are in for some sobering time ahead. People whose projects are still hosted in GitHub should plan an exit already. The sooner the departure, the lower the technical debt associated with relocation. Self-hosting means controlling one's own destiny. We wrote a lot about this in prior years [1, 2, 3] (posts and videos from 2020, 2021, and 2022, respectively). There are many Git Web interfaces, aside from GUI clients. Nobody needs GitHub to use or maintain Git. ⬆