[xilun0]

It's debatable whether github is more important than git or not. Despite the impression a reader of this site could have that (hype and with an user interface copy pasted from the prototype hype fashion simple user interface of the moment, with Big Buttons tm included) hosted services are the best thing since sliced bread and will replace everything, the world is interestingly neither centered around that, and it's indeed very ironic to value importance of centralized services more than the decentralized tool it embraces and extend, given many of the advances in the source code management area and development workflow directly come from the decentralized aspects.

That Hg also exist does not make git less important than github, no more than the fact that sourceforge exists make github less important than git.

[pbreit]

While I happen to think the Github UI is quite nice, it's a minor aspect of Gihub's importance. Github basically invented "social coding" which I would argue has been a genuine phenomenon unmatched by BitBucket, Launchpad, et al (or Sourceforge). Git (and Mercurial) didn't offer substantial advancements over Bitkeeper (save licensing) and Git's popularity was solidified with it being chosen for Linux. While reasonable people may disagree on the merits of Git, Hg and Bazaar, it's difficult to put BitBucket and Launchpad in Github's circle.

While it may be ironic to value the importance of centralization on this topic, it's unwise to not to value it.

Downvote? Really?

[xilun0]

How would you define "social coding"?