Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984
If you’re a GitHub user, but you don’t pay, this is a good week. Historically, GitHub always offered free accounts but the caveat was that your code had to be public. To get private repositories, you had to pay. Starting tomorrow, that limitation is gone. Free GitHub users now get unlimited private projects with up to three collaborators.
The amount of collaborators is really the only limitation here and there’s no change to how the service handles public repositories, which can still have unlimited collaborators.
This feels like a sign of goodwill on behalf of Microsoft, which closed its acquisition of GitHub last October, with former Xamarin CEO Nat Friedman taking over as GitHub’s CEO. Some developers were rather nervous about the acquisition (though it feels like most have come to terms with it). It’s also a fair guess to assume that GitHub’s model for monetizing the service is a bit different from Microsoft’s. Microsoft doesn’t need to try to get money from small teams — that’s not where the bulk of its revenue comes from. Instead, the company is mostly interested in getting large enterprises to use the service.
Source: https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/07/github-free-users-now-get-unlimited-private-repositories/
(Score: 3, Insightful) by requerdanos on Wednesday January 09 2019, @03:24AM (2 children)
Up to three. This number will come up shortly; for now, let's just note it.
Small teams get free unlimited private projects. Large enterprises, like, for example, the four broke, clueless guys in the garage at the beginning of the film Primer, are the only ones who have to pay instead of enjoy Microsoft's goodwill.
I will say that if you are interested in such a thing, that it's nice that the restrictions are slightly relaxed. But let's not wax idiotic.
(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Wednesday January 09 2019, @07:33PM (1 child)
Actually, the owner plus three collaborators makes four. If you want to reenact said movie, Microsoft is rooting for you!
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Wednesday January 09 2019, @10:29PM
I didn't know, and appreciate your correction.
In fact, that makes it all better. Only if Mrs. Abe and Mrs Aaron were included would they be a "Large Enterprise".