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Github Raises $100 Million

online.wsj.com

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Re: Github Raises $100 Million

#101

Post by franzus »

blhack wrote: post #31

Okay, a question: I have a github ( http://github.com/blhack -- nothing too interesting there), but only use it in the "free" way; saving my javascript stuff, and keeping track of some arduino projects. "Github" and "money" in the same thought here triggered me wondering about maybe buying a monthly plan from them, and letting them host all of my code for work, play, etc. (stuff I'm too embarrassed to release, ha) Ma…

> Maybe I'm just naive, but how large are most git repos?

The last 2 private repos I created grew to ~800mb each. And those were rather small projects. (We put PSDs and raw audio into the repo.)

Re: Github Raises $100 Million

#104

Post by Achshar »

mibbitier wrote: post #49
yuvadam wrote: post #21

I hate to crash the party, but this is a very odd move for an awesome company and a service that I use and Github has always been against taking money. Actually, TPW has used some very harsh words criticizing startups that choose to take VC money. Now, Github raises 100 gazillion dollars? How the f*ck do they plan on spending that wisely? Sure, it's nice to have that sum in the bank. But, in all honesty, someone has…

Probably makes it easier for them to sell the company to bigco for $1bn.

After all instagram did something very similar, used VC investment to boost sale price. And it seemed to work very well. Can we expect some surprise news from github? I don't know, but that can sure be one valid reason for raising such money which they clearly don't need to work on the product in it's current form.

Re: Github Raises $100 Million

#105

Post by btucker »

cluda01 wrote: post #29
mrkmcknz wrote: post #5

"Little-known social coding start-up". Got to love the WSJ.

None of my non-programmer/startup friends know who or what a github is so I think that given the WSJ's audience, it's a fair statement.

...and those that have tend to pronounce it gith•ub, which always cracks me up.

Re: Github Raises $100 Million

#106

Post by lnguyen »

pnathan wrote: post #94
siong1987 wrote: post #86

Many people do not realize that Github has an enterprise product called github:enterprise. Aside the money they raised for this round, there are also help comes together from the VC, Andreessen Horowitz in this case. I don't have any experience in enterprise sales. But, from what I know, enterprise isn't a market that the best product always wins. Yes, Github definitely has one of the best products out there. But, th…

enterprise sales are radically different than open source evangelism, b2c sales, and small biz sales. The difference is (literally and metaphorically) there is are suits involved. A few key thoughts which are likely to apply: - Per-customer customizations - $100K+ per sale per customer - 3 month to 3 year sales cycles - Usable on Windows XP and IE6 (most likely). - Certifications/audits (e.g., ISO9001). I can easily…

The product market for enterprise VCS/SCM is also quite a bit different. It's no longer enough to make it easy for developers; you need to be able to provide better access controls/security and start managing the code lifecycle.

Github has quite a bit of work ahead of them to be on par with say IBM/Rational ClearCase/ClearQuest or CA Software Change Manager (aka Harvest). Definitely wish them luck.

Re: Github Raises $100 Million

#107

Post by esonderegger »

JonnieCache wrote: post #69
megrimlock wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just curious, what makes you think they don't already use version control prolifically? What opportunity do you see? One studio I'm familiar with has some assets with change history back through to SCCS -- back through RCS, CVS, and P4. These places have long dealt with large groups of people collaborating on shared files that are constantly changing, forking, merging, etc.

I'm sure lots of bigger places do use it. In the world of music, there are studios everywhere that have maybe a dozen staff, making a lot of money and producing a lot of output, where version control is an unheard of concept. No audio production software that I'm aware of has any provision for version control. I was kindof assuming that it would be the same for mid to smaller sized movie/tv studios as well, but at th…

I use Sequoia (http://pro.magix.com/en/sequoia/overview.527.html) and I'm very happy with the 'Save Project Copy' function. When I start a new project, I create a 'history' folder and the project copies go in there, named as project_name-timestamp.VIP. I do that every time I'm a stopping point, much like how I use 'git commit' on a code project.

That doesn't mean there isn't huge room for improvement in this arena. An approach like this (or OSX's versions) doesn't allow you to do anything like 'git diff' to see what's changed from version to version. I can imagine this is a very difficult problem for binary data, however. Also, distributed version control on media production software could allow for multiple users to be editing a project simultaneously.

Unfortunately, I don't really see GitHub being able to help much here. For example, any work done to make ProTools files git-friendly wouldn't also work on Photoshop files. I'd love to be wrong about this, but I suspect seeing version control in media production software would require redesigning the application's file format from the ground up, and would be a task for each software company to do on their own.

Re: Github Raises $100 Million

#108

Post by lnguyen »

dagw wrote: post #77
megrimlock wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just curious, what makes you think they don't already use version control prolifically? What opportunity do you see? One studio I'm familiar with has some assets with change history back through to SCCS -- back through RCS, CVS, and P4. These places have long dealt with large groups of people collaborating on shared files that are constantly changing, forking, merging, etc.

I've worked quite a bit in the cgi and 3D graphics side of the industry and at least from what I've seen there the use of version control is lacking to say the least. The de-facto industry standard seems to be a directory full of files with names like scene_latest3_newest_old2.max. Although it also seems to be more of a cultural issue. There are already pretty good tools from companies like Perforce and Alienbrain, t…

I'm guessing they're working with file formats that can't be diffed or merged. In which case all the version control is doing is just storing the file. Branching, forking or collaboration isn't possible in the way it is with text code.

In that case it really doesn't benefit them at all and is a chore. You'll only get them to use version control if it's hard mandate (good luck) or figure out a way to make it completely transparent to them (something like Time Machine).

Re: Github Raises $100 Million

#109

Post by zalew »

shepbook wrote: post #96
zalew wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if this was $5/mo for unlimited repos, I'd have a plan now http://bitbucket.org $0/mo for unlimited repos, you got an even better plan now

One thing most people don't mention about bitbucket is the cost of their plans. Github: $7/mo for 5 repos, unlimited collaborators. Bitbucket: $0/mo for unlimited repos, 5 collaborators max. Then, it starts at $10/mo for 10 collaborators and continues at a tiered rate of $1/mo per collaborator until you hit $200/month. Only then is it unlimited on collaborators.

yes, but it's not blhack's use case, from what I read he wants unlimited privates for his own work and the free plan meets his needs.

Re: Github Raises $100 Million

#110

Post by modarts »

So, Github taking on some capitalization in order to spur growth in enterprise markets is apparently seen by many on this thread as Github "not keeping it real." (to borrow a "street" analogy.)

What exactly would the individuals complaining about this action do differently?

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