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Announcing unlimited free private repos

blog.github.com

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Re: Announcing unlimited free private repos

#182
post #27

Well, if true -- I'll be canceling my subscription :D Thank you Github / Microsoft! > Due to a scheduling error, we published this story one day before the embargo lifted. This feature isn’t live yet, but Github will formally unveil it tomorrow. When that happens, we’ll update this post with a link to the official announcement. Also... kinda unfair to others.

Yup, this will mean that there's no reason for me to keep my subscription as well. This will also make me a little more cautious as a consumer, since they're voluntarily removing the incentive for me to pay for their services upfront.

    > there's no reason for me to keep my subscription...
Perhaps, we'll see. Github hasn't actually announced the details yet. All we got is a story from a journalist who accidentally spilled the beans early.

Could be totally wrong, but I expect there may be some incentive to induce folks to keep their paid plan.

Re: Announcing unlimited free private repos

#183
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did they just cut off a significant source of revenue, or do companies that subscribe to Enterprise make them so much more money that it doesn’t matter?

Github was never profitable, private repos were a way to squeeze out a bit of money when they could, but it would never support the service. Now that they're part of Microsoft, Github's corporate goal isn't to be financially solvent anymore, it is to be a loss-leader for Microsoft's other products. Hook people with github, and then get money from them by offering integrations with Azure, Office, Windows, Sharepoint,…

Github was always profitable, that's why they only took VC money in 2015, after around 7 years of existence. With VC funding they started looking more at enterprise customers.

I believe individual paid accounts were a tiny fraction of total revenue.

Re: Announcing unlimited free private repos

#184
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This genuinely seems like an accident judging by the authors Tweets: https://twitter.com/matthewhughes

If I could ever get over the fact that they are using Wordpress, I still wouldn't be able to explain how a single person can set dates and publish stories on their own?!

I worked on a project to replace a Wordpress content site. The tech team selected React + Redux + NoSQL + microservices + all the other hip words. It took 12 months and cost 1.2 million dollars to build, and turned out to be feature equivalent to the original Wordpress site that was built in under a month. Sometimes Wordpress is the right answer.

Re: Announcing unlimited free private repos

#185
post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I could ever get over the fact that they are using Wordpress, I still wouldn't be able to explain how a single person can set dates and publish stories on their own?!

At some point, it's one persons responsibility to enter that date into a computer in some fashion.. is he supposed to share the keyboard with someone?

You require someone to verify the date. Then the verifier accepts them without looking because they've never been wrong before, and then we're right back where we started, except with more people to blame.

Re: Announcing unlimited free private repos

#187
post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I could ever get over the fact that they are using Wordpress, I still wouldn't be able to explain how a single person can set dates and publish stories on their own?!

At some point, it's one persons responsibility to enter that date into a computer in some fashion.. is he supposed to share the keyboard with someone?

[deleted]

Re: Announcing unlimited free private repos

#188

Well, if true -- I'll be canceling my subscription :D Thank you Github / Microsoft! > Due to a scheduling error, we published this story one day before the embargo lifted. This feature isn’t live yet, but Github will formally unveil it tomorrow. When that happens, we’ll update this post with a link to the official announcement. Also... kinda unfair to others.

This was the reason I chose gitlab over GitHub.

But now that I'm on gitlab, I'm finding I like it better mainly because of the docker-based continuous integration feature. Managing contributors and 2FA without all that "organization" cruft is handy too.

Re: Announcing unlimited free private repos

#189
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Well, if true -- I'll be canceling my subscription :D > Thank you Github / Microsoft! What a weird way to thank a company. I get it, but still.

Did they just cut off a significant source of revenue, or do companies that subscribe to Enterprise make them so much more money that it doesn’t matter?

Github allows Microsoft to grab the attention of every software developer on the planet. And, as we know, most software developers are early adopters and enjoy sharing technology with others.

With AWS’s quality of service going downhill, and Google’s apparent inability to execute, this gives MS a huge advantage. Remember, AWS is pretty much how Amazon stays profitable.

Re: Announcing unlimited free private repos

#190
A lot of people are concerned about the “what if they make me the product since I’m no longer paying.”

A few reasons I don’t think that will happen:

- private, single contributor repos tend to be pretty small. it costs Github very little to service a single account.

- Github is a growing social network for developers. Getting young engineers on the platform for free will pay off handsomely when they join a team and automatically assume Github is their code storage tool of choice.

- Microsoft gets the reputation points for running the de facto developer social network (other than Stack Overflow).

GitHub is in the strange position of being both a successful enterprise product AND a social network. What other product exists with that kind of crossover? Microsoft will continue to optimize their enterprise revenue from GH and I think this is a tremendous step forward toward building the network long term.

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