開源日報 每天推薦一個 GitHub 優質開源項目和一篇精選英文科技或編程文章原文,堅持閱讀《開源日報》,保持每日學習的好習慣。
今日推薦開源項目:《在線畫圖 drawio》
今日推薦英文原文:《Time is Ripe for Github Disruption》

今日推薦開源項目:《在線畫圖 drawio》傳送門:GitHub鏈接
推薦理由:現在使用瀏覽器頁面代替桌面軟體的趨勢已經產生,很多需要即刻使用的軟體都可以不通過安裝而是直接通過瀏覽器使用了。這個項目是一個可以快速畫出各種圖的項目,包括工程用圖和 UML 相關圖等等,你可以選擇將圖片存儲於雲端或者是本地硬碟上,而不需要額外的安裝步驟,相比於功能更詳盡的安裝軟體,使用簡單功能的瀏覽器頁面有它獨有的快速使用的益處。

今日推薦英文原文:《Time is Ripe for Github Disruption》作者:Pen Magnet
原文鏈接:https://medium.com/@tipsnguts/time-is-ripe-for-github-disruption-19d4526591e5
推薦理由:一些對 GitHub 能做的更好的方向的見解

Time is Ripe for Github Disruption

In 2010, my friend advised me to create a Github account for my side projects. At that time, I had nothing going on commercially. I was employed in a Fortune 500 company. I had some online tutorials with code samples to showcase my skills.

By 2009, Github was already boasting 100000+ users. But I ended up creating my Github very late in 2014 when I knew I couldn』t stay relevant as a senior developer in the market without it.

I don』t know why, but I never saw much value in making my best creations available to the world just for the sake of a few employers.

Today, Github is rich. Acquired by Microsoft for $7.5B, it has a success story every developer envies. And I am a satisfied user too, for it allows unlimited private repos with the blessings of its new master.

But sometimes I am still puzzled what were the real reasons I avoided being a regular Github user for a long time. True, I did not have a huge collaboration with my freelance client teams. When I had, it was done using Bitbucket.

Github sold private repos, yet it thrived on amazing revenue growth (300%+ during 2012).

Where Github can be beaten?

With the over-flooding of free cloud space, Github free unlimited private repos are a boon today for many.

But if you consider what it did for the open-source movement vs what it could do now given its position, there is much to be desired.

That』s where Github could be beaten.

No Cookies for Indie Developers:

Github provides you space to privately store your code. But after all, if you are an indie developer, it』s just some space. You get to upload your stuff with a handful of Git commands. You have no teams to collaborate with. Dropbox or Google Drive won』t be very different.

What about users who want to show off their code to the world? Most popular repos on Github today have been popularized using popular twitter handles and high ranking blogs.

Takeaway?

You rule Github if you already have your influence outside Github.
Useless interview question repos got 10k+ stars, while quality work remains undiscovered. Curated tech repos (example: Awesome iOS) collect quality repos under an umbrella, but masters control and govern them in monopolistic ways.

Github has no curation standards of its own except Topics (discussed later in this article), and lets them have a free rein over these huge repos.

No Payouts to Quality Contributors:

I rarely received any recognition on Github for my own repos, though the work I contributed had saved 2 person-weeks each time it was to be done.

I tried to get it under one of the curated repos to get more stars, but I got no response from repo owners.

I felt disappointed.

But when I read a piece about how fabulous Github contributors get nothing for their stars and forks, I was shaken:https://medium.com/@kitze/github-stars-wont-pay-your-rent-8b348e12baed

Mine wasn』t the worst case after all.

In the last decade, Microsoft has shown some great momentum towards open source. But what it will do with some extremely precious piece of software that runs the world remains unclear.

In May 2019, Github announced to match up to $5000 support for projects that are already funded by external supporters. Something to imitate the Patreon business model.

But what does it say about Github』s own evaluation of developers』 contributions? Do they recognize them simply because someone else decided that work is worth financial support?
Where is Github』s own recognition of developers whose work has made them a billionaire megalith with code repos that almost runs the world?

Poorly Curated Featured Section:

Curation is any platform』s way of identifying quality contributors.

Github has this place called topics.

It has 5 tabs. Explore section shows you repos which may be of your interest based on your own programming language. Such a wide filter!

Then there is trending, where already big players make it bigger.

A curious section called Collection grabbed my attention. But seeing already successful repos there again disappointed me.

Topics weren』t diverse enough too.

If you really look at StackExchange community, you will get an idea what software topics really are. Above is a snapshot taken from their sites collection. It』s just 33% of the entire image. While it has non-software communities, software ones stand out in larger proportion.

There is no place on Github to feature your newly published repo (quality notwithstanding) even for 5 seconds.

Where is an average developer』s path to success on Github?

With gigantic data science algorithms running behind every cloud endpoint, a smart code repo storage can surely do much better, given the place where they stand today.

Conclusion

An established platform』s problems are business opportunities for fresh and innovative startups.

Github has been a great place, and will always be. But being a cloud wrapper around an open-source version-control system has bestowed upon it more than their fair share.

It was a great milestone in the open-source movement, but it need not be an end.

Time is ripe for a newer public version control provider to start and make a killing.
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