[throwaway_bwicd]

We already have a problem with frequent and, in many cases avoidable, API/interface changes in our industry. Think about the last time you use some library, then it's API changes, and you spend a day fixing this in your codebase.

The fact that this change affects only new repos is not reassuring. There are tons of tutorials, scripts and other stuff out there relying on the default naming ("upstream" is the other branch name that is frequently used). Git is already complex enough, especially for beginners.

Also, other git hosting services (and git itself) still use "master" as the default branch name, which will create even more confusion.