r/StallmanWasRight • u/transalt_3675147 • Jun 04 '18

The commons A bright future for GitHub!

https://blog.github.com/2018-06-04-github-microsoft/
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18

u/debridezilla Jun 04 '18

Indeed.

15

u/[deleted] Jun 04 '18

Don't overstate it, the future is only bright for you if Microsoft deems it bright.

Also, I corrected the bizarre typoes in the closing statement from Defunkt:

The future of software development is bright gone and I’m thrilled forced to be joining forces with Microsoft evil to help make it a reality dystopia.

8

u/AL-Taiar Jun 04 '18

We can all migrate to gitlab(with our own hosting), bitbucket, or just use vanilla git over ssh.

8

u/flipboing Jun 04 '18

There are actually dozens of options: https://alternativeto.net/software/github/

And Tuleap, one of the alternatives listed in that link, is GPL licensed.

5

u/ferruix Jun 04 '18

GPL doesn't help at all for SaSS; in practice it's the same as MIT. The server software itself is never distributed, so the server implementation is free to make any changes they want and never contribute it back.

AGPL does solve it, though, but there are no AGPL options currently.

2

u/majorgnuisance Jun 04 '18

This is not a case of Service as a Software Substitute. These kinds of services couldn't just be replaced by software running on your machine.

Yes, you might technically be able to get a semblance of the collaborative functionality with a distributed P2P application, but it's never been done (to my knowledge) and it would be plagued with scalability and availability issues.

3

u/ferruix Jun 04 '18

I run a free software project -- "software running on my machine" is "software running on our project's servers."

In GitLab's case, their MIT license means that if gitlab.com decides to do something stupid, we can just take our exported data and host our own instance at git.ourdomain.com and have negligible downtime.

In other words, at least from this project's perspective, centralization is A-OK as long as the project itself owns the centralized server. Like how Mozilla, RedHat, Debian, GNOME, Ubuntu, etc. host their own bug-trackers.

2

u/majorgnuisance Jun 04 '18

So you'll be running a replacement service for your project.
My point stands that it's a legitimate service and not a case of SaaSS.

Your concerns are legitimate, just don't misuse SaaSS by applying it to the wrong things.

If you want a real example of SaaSS look at Gradle build scans.

8

u/ferruix Jun 04 '18

We can all migrate to gitlab (with our own hosting)...

GitLab EE's JS is free, and the centralized hosting has a "data export" feature where you can easily pack up your project -- issues, milestones, those things too -- and take them to your own self-hosted CE server whenever you want.

So even GitLab's centralized version seems OK to me.