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by chrisan 4275 days ago
> Many 'students' would probably be in a better financial situation than a non-'student' who is trying to learn. Somehow 'education' has turned into a tool for passing on privilege.

Without that, how would they validate who is a student vs not? I know nothing of Go but want to learn. Am I not a 'student'?

I understand what you are saying, but without being an actual verifiable student they would be giving this away to the world

Further, with all of the thousands of dollars saved by not being a traditional student, surely there is some money for these services out of pocket (not all of which are 100% required to learn)
2 comments
maratd 4275 days ago
> Without that, how would they validate who is a student vs not?

What? Why would they need to?

Those "perks" are only appealing to somebody who's learning or a hobbyist. They are absolutely worthless to a professional. I will burn through them in a week.

Github is just trying to market this to kids. It has nothing to do with learning or providing a better value proposition. It's all about hooking them into your brand early. Nothing wrong with that, but that's what it is.

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kendallpark 4275 days ago
> It's all about hooking them into your brand early.

Yup. That's how Amazon Prime got me. Free Prime for students? Well, four years later I'm hooked and pay full price.

Ingenious marketing strategy.

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pbhjpbhj 4274 days ago
Well it's worked for many years for Microsoft too.

Adobe, do it as well I think, though they're close to a monopoly with Photoshop.

Have people become so accustomed to using your software that it's easier for them to pay for it than to transition to another company's products or indeed to go with FOSS alternatives.

It's the drug dealer model: first hit is free.

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pokpokpok 4275 days ago
their point is that this is a package meant to financially aid those in the process of learning, but it's restricted to learners who are already privileged enough to be part of the expensive system (maybe some of them through grants or loans).

Isn't it worth mentioning that a package meant to give people access to expensive learning resources isn't available to those who need it most?

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judk 4275 days ago
It's meant to get future paying customers to use their stack.

It's not a charity. The open source hosting tools (which github offers) are more charitable.

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