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GitHub Desktop is now available

github.com

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Re: GitHub Desktop is now available

#221

Post by westoque »

techwizrd wrote: post #178
harel wrote: post #2

Its a shame that a Linux version is not included. A significant volume of developers work on Linux. If doing a multi platform application, why exclude it?

I'm actually working on a Github Desktop "clone" using Electron (so that it'll be "cross-platform"). I'm also working a Gtk+3 version (since I have more experience with that), but I haven't gotten too far.

Same here. Although I've already gotten somewhere. Already implemented the "History" tab.

Ping me if you want to see it. Planning to open source it soon.

Re: GitHub Desktop is now available

#222

Post by yellowapple »

kitsunesoba wrote: post #184
yellowapple wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's likely they felt it's not worth the time This seems strange. Did they not use Electron or Atom Shell or whatever it's called to build Github Desktop? If so, then is it not relatively trivial to create a GNU/Linux (or at least non-OSX-centric Unix) tarball of all the Javascript or whatever? If not so, then why not?

Because Electron is heavy and clunky. It makes no sense for a simple wrapper around a tiny (less than 1MB) commandline tool to have memory and CPU requirements on par with those of an instance of Chromium with a javascript-laden page open in a tab.

If it's really just a wrapper around the git command, then I suppose I'm not really interested anyway, then, seeing as the existing Git GUIs for Linux provide that rather well. I was assuming it was like the Mac client where it provides Github-specific functionality (adding "Clone in Desktop" buttons to repo pages, managing pull requests, etc.).

Re: GitHub Desktop is now available

#223

Post by eropple »

em3rgent0rdr wrote: post #186
enraged_camel wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Embarrassing"? "Insulting"? Aren't you taking this a little too personally? I mean, it's a software release for christs sake.

It demonstrates a lack of concern/acknowledgement of the diversity of its user base. Especially if they are going to be promoting this on the front page of their website and in my dashboard upon login, which presents me with the broadcast: "GitHub Desktop is now available The new GitHub Desktop is now available" And then I click on it to install it, I feel marginalized and hence a little insulted, when discovering I…

> I feel marginalized and hence a little insulted, when discovering I can't.

I feel you; I used to be a Linux desktop user and an advocate thereof. But that's the price that you pay for using the distant, distant third most-used OS for a company trying to drive user engagement with their product. You (the collective you) have to be an attractive market if you want commercial entities to consider you worth marketing to, y'know?

Re: GitHub Desktop is now available

#224

Post by craigds »

zxcvcxz wrote: post #44
JeremyMorgan wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's likely they felt it's not worth the time since most Linux users are using the CLI for everything else, and likely wouldn't be interested in a GUI. Personally I've never used the Github GUI and have no plans to, running the commands is fast and easy.

I think it's a myth that Linux users aren't interested in GUI tools. According to stack overflow statistics, Ubuntu is the most popular Linux based OS amongst developers, which is an OS that is much more GUI based than say Arch linux. According to the same stats, Linux and OS X usage is statistically tied at ~21%. If you take into account the fact that only about 2% of computer users run Linux at all it's pretty clea…

I don't think it's a myth, but it definitely is self-fulfilling (since it puts off users who would otherwise use Linux, but don't because they don't want to exclusively use the CLI)

Personally I use a mac nowadays but still use and prefer the command line for this kind of thing. I tried using Github for Mac but quickly gave up the first time I had to do something vaguely complicated.

I guess I'm still a linux person at heart - you can tell if you prefer to 'brew install everything and have never actually used the App Store except to install Xcode :)

Re: GitHub Desktop is now available

#225

Post by kitsunesoba »

yellowapple wrote: post #222
kitsunesoba wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because Electron is heavy and clunky. It makes no sense for a simple wrapper around a tiny (less than 1MB) commandline tool to have memory and CPU requirements on par with those of an instance of Chromium with a javascript-laden page open in a tab.

If it's really just a wrapper around the git command, then I suppose I'm not really interested anyway, then, seeing as the existing Git GUIs for Linux provide that rather well. I was assuming it was like the Mac client where it provides Github-specific functionality (adding "Clone in Desktop" buttons to repo pages, managing pull requests, etc.).

I was assuming it was like the Mac client where it provides Github-specific functionality (adding "Clone in Desktop" buttons to repo pages, managing pull requests, etc.). It is like the Mac client, but that functionality still doesn’t justify the resource usage than a Chromium wrapper would bring.

Re: GitHub Desktop is now available

#226

Post by prayerslayer »

bluetidepro wrote: post #66

When I saw "Desktop" in the name, I was really hoping this also brought some of the web features to the app. Things such as being able to view/edit the wiki, or issues of the repo. I wonder if that is in their long term plans for the app at all? That would be really awesome.

So much this.

Github for Mac is quite good already for commiting and pull-requesting. I could stop using my browser (for Github, at least) if they put issue management (open, close, view, comments) in there too. Would be awesome and a more unified experience.

Re: GitHub Desktop is now available

#227

Post by hueving »

imbriaco wrote: post #218
hueving wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right, they hired people that were already participating in the git community to continue to participate in the community. This is better than nothing because it ensures that they are employed, but it's a net zero effect for the git community and isn't what I would call participating because they aren't bringing anything new to the table. It's similar to Microsoft hiring a bunch of Linux developers to continue…

I don't know why I'm responding, but I can't help myself. I guess it's the good old XKCD "Someone is wrong on the Internet" effect and I should know better. But. They are paying people who would otherwise work on Git in their spare time to work on it full time. That is a net win for everyone who uses git. I'm going to give up at this point and just accept the fact that you're going to spin it such that any commercial…

No, they were both appeared to be working full time on git before (based on commit activity). They just changed 'sponsors' i.e. employers.

These aren't my own facts. This is based on what I've seen with open source contributors for a long time. Rather than companies contributing code or their own engineers, they just hire an existing contributor to keep doing what they do. I'm not arguing that this is bad, I'm saying that they should be put on a pedestal for essentially throwing money at something that they depend on anyway.

I see I've struck a nerve with github fans, but be honest with yourself. Do we say oracle is a great open source contributor because they have java language devs?

Re: GitHub Desktop is now available

#228

Post by andyfleming »

I really like the GitHub desktop app. Although, I honestly I could care less about the fancy new graph feature. I would rather they had added a couple of simpler, more useful features:

• the ability to organize repos by organization or with custom folders/lists

• the option to open a repo in a new window by right-clicking on one from the list in the left column

Re: GitHub Desktop is now available

#229

Post by brianmurphy »

gress wrote: post #185
okasaki wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There would be no github without git.

Necessary but not sufficient. There would be no free GitHub repos for open source without the income from the closed source repos that pay for them. As usual, open source is subsidized by closed source.

Maybe not "github" repos, but other public git repos would pop up. Suggesting that open source wouldn't have distribution is ignorant of the origins of open source.

Re: GitHub Desktop is now available

#230

Post by hueving »

imbriaco wrote: post #136
hueving wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don't participate in the open source community. They're similar to Apple in that they take open source stuff and build a closed ecosystem on top of it.

That'd be a shame if it were true. GitHub has 6 pages of public repositories ( https://github.com/github ) that you can peruse. To pre-empt your response, yes, they aren't all open source projects that GitHub has released. But a great many of them are. Some of their popular projects include things like Atom, Hubot, Boxen, Linguist, and many more. They also have developers who contribute to a great many other projects…

Wow, someone who worked at github extolling the virtues of github. What a wonderfully objective view.

Lots of companies throw money at some open source developers to continue developing what they were already doing. That doesn't make the company any more open source friendly. It just makes them a funding source for people doing the real work.

Contrast that with a company like Red Hat that bases everything on improving and supporting open source. People used to give them crap for RDO, but that's nothing compared to closed ecosystem github built on top of open source.

Github is just as supportive of open source as Stackoverflow (superficially). They just get a lot of credit by association for real open source products hosted on their platform.

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