We use GitHub as if it were a public utility, but it isn't

09 Jul 2015 • liveblog.co

I did not know what happened to Sourceforge. They’re now putting adware in the downloads. That’s totally unacceptable, obviously. But when people take their projects off Sourceforge, they put them back, with the malware back in.

You think this can’t happen to GitHub, okay. But at one time it was unthinkable that it would happen at SourceForge.

Just about to go read this. Sounds like some serious food for thought. I’ve definitely fallen into the “public utility” mindset without even giving much thought to it.

If GitHub would release the source code for their web platform that would be a great start - but I think the GitHub platform is likely their magic sauce. Would they be so successful and profitable (assuming) if all they gave the platform away for free?