[JohnTHaller]

One reason is discoverability as they have a rather extensive searchable directory of open source software.

Another reason for quite a while was binary hosting, which github originally supported, then discontinued, but finally added again in July 2013. Additionally, the ability to use any open source license or combinations of licenses, as Google Code supported binary downloads during the time github didn't but only permitted one license per project and only from a subset of open source licenses (originally a small subset, later expanded). Google Code, of course, is sunsetting now. And github now supports multiple licenses as well as binary releases.

[krisdol]

I will second the Discovery aspect as being something that I like about SF when I first used it in the early 2000s. The reason I liked it so much was because I was a kid looking for free games to play on my PC, who soon learned to equate opensource == free, who then started browsing SF's games category (played a lot of BZflag).

That said, with projects and people leaving SF, and their UI leaving a lot to be desired, there are so many more options I'd first use for project discovery.

[geofft]

Oh right, the other reason I forgot to mention is lack of volunteer time/enthusiasm to deal with a move. If you already bounced between Google Code and SourceForge two years ago, chances are you're probably not completely excited about jumping ship to GitHub right now.

(But yes, right now, if you're on Git, GitHub will give you binary downloads and all licenses.)

[hhsnopek]

Actually you can easily import your code into repos now. Also considering Google code is shutting down you can easily move your project to github from google code.

[mzjs]

Github lets you use any license you want.

[JohnTHaller]

Right. I meant it as a comparison to Google Code, hence mentioning it during the time period that Google Code supported binary downloads but github did not.