[oso2k]

I'm a Google Code user myself. I prefer it (and inDefero) over the likes of bitbucket, github, savannah, berlios, etc. But that doesn't make github any less popular. I don't understand the analogy you're trying to make by bringing in the debian repositories into the discussion. It seems to me like you're saying making friends on Friendster are more legitimate than friends made on Facebook because it was an initial innovator in the social network. Here's a 2013 that states github has 50% more projects then the next repository (sourceforge)[1]. Here's a 2011 that discusses when github turned 1 million accounts [2].

My argument is that many young developers don't care where they get their code, what license it has, etc. They just want to build, create, collaborate [3]. A secondary argument is that many people feel the GPL is a barrier to collaboration.

When it comes to gifts and beer, I would hope my friend wouldn't hit me with it nor would I put poison in his beer. They're (implicitly) allowed to hit me with it, but I don't expect such a thing to occur. Nor should they expect me to put poison in it. That's all a matter of trust. And the GPL, proprietary licenses, DRM are instruments of distrust.

In the end, you always have choice. I choose to live by the philosophies that "Givers Gain" and people do want to be good people. I understand not everyone has as altruistic intentions, heck, I work for those people. But I also understand that if I want to see the world change, I need to start by changing myself.

[1] http://software.ac.uk/resources/guides/choosing-repository-y...

[2] http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2076108/github-domi...

[3] http://developers.slashdot.org/story/13/07/16/0220240/github...

[belorn]

Debian repositories are not gateless, in that you can't just create a repository with a text file in it and call it a project. You have to be sponsored, which mean you got to have some working code that is useful for someone.

Or to take a statitic look, 2 out of 3 forks on github are empty[1]. The quality per "project" on github is order of magnitude less than on debian.

You can test this out by randomly picking github repositories and read code. It takes several tries on the randomizer to even get code, and then even more to get code that actually do something.

Using statistics from more mature projects will provide different results than code just thrown at the wall.

As for the beer, it is a bit of a fringe view to allow others assault oneself with beer bottles. Most people will expect physical assault to have legal repercussions. The GPL in the same way trust that most people will not go out to hurt others, but in the case they will, repercussion will happen.

I now really hope you never end up in a court, complaining about assault, and having your comment above used as evidence against you. You basically gave everyone a license to hit you with beer bottles.

[1] http://blog.ram.rachum.com/post/4472104984/2-out-of-3-github...

[oso2k]

You're just being silly and overly literal. Having gates does not legitimize a project. Being "mature" does not legitimize a project. Only users can legitimize a project, a license, or a philosophy. In that sense, the GPL is losing legitimacy and relevance in the mindshare of young people, IMO. In the same respect, Debian is meeting a similar fate. Does anybody use Debian anymore? Yes, maybe. The new generation of new distributions seem to be built on Ubuntu, not Debian. I know I've never used Debian, and it took Ubuntu to teach me the "Debian-way" when I had grown up on using Red Hat/Fedora.

Implicitly, everyone has a license to do harm to you. Which is why some people feel governments exist to protect you from others, and others from you. But, laws & rules all have two fatal flaws. "It's only illegal if you get caught" and "Rules aren't made to keep the bad guys out; they're made to keep the good guys in." Meditate on that.