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GitHub Raises $250M at $2B Valuation

wsj.com

271–280 of 416 posts

Re: GitHub Raises $250M at $2B Valuation

#271
post #41

Both this piece, and most commenters, seem to miss the point about where Github's value comes from. It's not for being a social identity for programmers, or hosting open-source libraries. Those are worthy pursuits, but from a business perspective mostly serve as marketing. Github is basically Microsoft Word for programmers, and is an essential part of their workflow. Companies that need enterprise functionality aroun…

I'm a bit curious how much GitHub Enterprise is being adopted. Obviously winning someone like IBM and HP (I don't know what they use) would be big. But I see most companies using GitHub private organizations (paid per repo) even when they are sometimes quite large. I might be totally wrong here, but I'm kinda interested in what the split is. Obviously every software company having a huge chance of keeping their priva…

Paypal, SAP, Vimeo and lots of bug companies uses enterprise github.

Re: GitHub Raises $250M at $2B Valuation

#272
post #244
post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From an employer's perspective, github profile has been one of the highest signal in our hiring decisions. Anecdotally, I have yet to see a gamed profile. This builds a very tight feedback loop, and ends up with more developers using github. And I don't see anything disrupting this loop for the time being.

If you're hiring based on GitHub profiles, you're absolutely doing it wrong. I've seen plenty of total idiots with flashy GitHub profiles, and many -- if not all -- of the best coders I know have essentially nothing on GitHub. A GitHub profile page is a strong signal only that you have a GitHub account. Any other use is strictly off-label.

Punch cards, followers, stars on the repositories of the user, important contributions - all are available at a bird's eye view. You are missing the point if you just check whether the person HAS a github profile.

Re: GitHub Raises $250M at $2B Valuation

#273
post #41

Both this piece, and most commenters, seem to miss the point about where Github's value comes from. It's not for being a social identity for programmers, or hosting open-source libraries. Those are worthy pursuits, but from a business perspective mostly serve as marketing. Github is basically Microsoft Word for programmers, and is an essential part of their workflow. Companies that need enterprise functionality aroun…

I agree, in fact, I don't understand why it's only valued at $2B, when a platform with no monetization model like Instagram was valued (and sold) at $1B.

Re: GitHub Raises $250M at $2B Valuation

#274
post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What a curious turn of events. Is "retard" particularly offensive in some cultures? I wasn't aware it had such inflammatory power behind it.

Yes it is highly offensive to many English speaking individuals in the US. It has historically been used as a highly derogatory term for disabled individuals.

Not just USA, in a lot of the rest of the Anglosphere it's insulting.

Re: GitHub Raises $250M at $2B Valuation

#275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry to say, but any time I need a private repo I just head to BitBucket. GitHub provides tremendous value, I hope they find a good way to capture some of it.

So, when you're looking to not pay for something to head to a BitBucket, but if someone else is footing the bill (like a company with a real budget for more than $7/month) you'd prefer GitHub? Sounds like a win-win for GitHub.

[deleted]

Re: GitHub Raises $250M at $2B Valuation

#276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I very strongly prefer, as an engineer, not to use Atlassian products (Jira, Hipchat, Bitbucket, etc).

Wait, what? What is wrong with the Atlassian suite?

Jira seems like overkill for anything but the biggest of projects. Its better then whet went before it, but Trello is refreshingly simple in comparison and well suited to a lot of smaller teams' needs.

Re: GitHub Raises $250M at $2B Valuation

#277

Github has already stumbled, and will fall soon. Their gaffes in conduct[1] and content[2] policies are already dividing the community. For a company that has thrived on being a monoculture, this spells doom. [1] https://np.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/3e5c6f/why_the_... [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9966118

I strongly disagree. These look more like intentional signals to indicate that they're trying to shed the kind of behaviour they had become known for previously[0][1].

It's understandable that they're concerned about how the "feminist community" sees them. They're this generation's SourceForge and "feminist" backed shitstorms against them are likely posing a considerable risk to their brand. Just look at Gittip[2] (now Gratipay)[3].

[0]: http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Category:GitHub

[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2605739

[2]: http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Gittip_crisis

[3]: Gratipay lives and they had to change business models for unrelated reasons but I'm fairly certain the "crisis" has an impact on their brand and growth even if it didn't outright kill them.

Re: GitHub Raises $250M at $2B Valuation

#278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It wouldn't be banned in that context.

That requires people to understand context and nuance. We live in a world where a guy wants to ban Mel Brooks' The Producers because he doesn't realize it's a satire of Hitler, not an homage. Lots of people don't or won't appreciate context.

The context of the original repo was very clearly that of an insulting word.

re: The Producers, with any topic you'll get one or two extremists of any varity. You should judge it not by "did someone want to stop this", but instead by "did someone(s) in power to stop it, want to stop it". One crank protesting outside a cinema is very different from the CEO of a movie studio deciding not to make the film.

Re: GitHub Raises $250M at $2B Valuation

#279
post #167
post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes it is highly offensive to many English speaking individuals in the US. It has historically been used as a highly derogatory term for disabled individuals.

It's certainly at minimum an insulting word, and in this context unambiguously so. In the context of, say, aerodynamics, its merely a word of art, e.g. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/aerodynamic+braking It'll be another word, perhaps in a more ambigious context, next time. Which brings up another point: I just don't want to have to worry about what will become this politically incorrect in the future when I'm…

> I just don't want to have to worry about what will become this politically incorrect in the future when I'm writing code and documentation.

Then don't say/write bigotted things. Honestly, it's like asking people not to write spelling or grammar mistakes in documentation. It's not that hard.

Re: GitHub Raises $250M at $2B Valuation

#280
Is anyone else just waiting for GitHub to capitalise on its brand with a move into source control for the rest of the enterprise?

Stuff like the swipable image diff: https://github.com/blog/817-behold-image-view-modes

or map diffing: https://github.com/blog/1772-diffable-more-customizable-maps

are truly fantastic features; I imagine they already have some sophisticated diffing algorithms and visualisations in the pipeline for word docs, spreadsheets etc.

I guess there are some ease of use issues; (minor, imho) and there is a - possibly better - paradigm in collaborative editing a la Google Docs? But otherwise i'm sure a "github appliance" would work pretty well in a lot of non-software environments.

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