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Enshittification of GitHub?
(lemmy.ml)
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this post was submitted on 24 Jan 2024
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Because after placing code search through the login wall, and everything that is copilot it can really be expected that something like this happens. That you don't see it does not tell much, as companies large like this are making good use of A/B testing.
There was also a partial outage 2 days ago. So That they did see it that day doesn't say much either.
The reality is, hosting your own repo is a pain, and developers are looking for stability. It's also not cheap to host source code, and Microsoft are doing it for free for open source projects
They also need to handle dodgy usage of the hosting too (which they've successfully been doing).
And again, if op wants to migrate, that's up to them. I don't care about code search though for people who aren't logged in so I wouldn't move, especially since if they don't have a login, they're not contributing anything anyway
I used to host code on source forge 20 years ago using CVS, and they were free but wouldn't even let you delete any code you uploaded.
Sorry, but I don't see your points.
I don't see what you mean by that outage.
Then stability does not need locking read-only features behind a requirement to log in.
Microsoft has chosen to host public source code for free (or for their benefit which does not have monetary costs to users), no one forced them to acquire GitHub.
Defending against dodgy usage and moderating repos also don't require read-only features to be login walled: if you don't log in, you already couldn't do anything that would need moderation.
The post was not about them migrating their projects. It is raising awareness about an unwelcome change that affects them and probably others too. It bothers me too if Microsoft (or anyone else) wants to force me to log in for read-only access to content that was uploaded on their platform to be made public, because to me that means Microsoft wants to meddle with my data, including knowing what projects I've stumbled upon, but possibly even through absurd registration (or account kepping) rules like handing out a stable personal identifier like a phone number or an email address at a select few email providers.
I read this as "it's not me, so I couldn't care less". I would bet you also find absolutely no problem with using google services (or those of any other data mining companies) and making others do that too.
Oh, that's not just about that. I have an account, but I don't want Microsoft to tie every little search to my account for behavioral analysis.
This move is very much like public transport requiring the use of such bus passes that need to be scanned when you hop on, and which is tied to your person. They shouldn't need to do that for verifying if I'm eligible for the service, but they are doing it anyway, for whatever unknown reason.
But also, do you remember that GitHub also hosts tons of projects which are licensed to not only those who contribute?
I'm actually growing increasingly suspicious that you personally haven't actually tested OP's claims.. Have you? Or am I literally the only one in this thread who tested anything lol
There's literally no actual evidence what they're saying is true, and you're making assumptions that its an A/B test. We don't even know what projects they tested (for all we know, they tested a project where the wiki was restricted to the team only, and assumed it affected everyone)
Either that or OP is just simply wrong, or, was affected by the outage that conveniently happened the day OP posted this, which specifically mentioned things including pages.. You can see outages on https://www.githubstatus.com/history . You're assuming again it shouldn't affect other things..
They didn't even post any information on what repos they tested. We see these crazy witch-hunts constantly in the tech community. Remember the Xbox ring of death debacle where people told others that Microsoft was stupid and left a piece of paper in their heatsinks? Turned out it was a thermal pad.
What data do you think Microsoft gains from "datamining" searches in repos?
Also, there are huge open source projects on Github, and if the searching thing was a big deal at all, they would be making public announcements.. They aren't. And again, the people making a deal out of it I've looked up, haven't contributed much either (so, it feels like they simply are using it to attack Microsoft).
I just tested 3 other repos and they all have wiki's and such working publicly. Given op is the only one I've seen complain about this anywhere and hasn't posted any evidence, I think its just a weird witch hunt.. Either that, or it could even be done in a specific country for legal reasons too.. But there is no way of even testing that because we don't know where OP is (they didn't say that). Or it could be done to reduce server load
I sure as hell don't agree with Copilot scraping repos, but there is no actual evidence in this discussion thread, only a claim by OP