• I live in San Francisco.
• I married Kendra.
• I work at GitHub.
• I tweet at @pjhyett.
• I email at pjhyett@gmail.com.
• I enjoy traveling.

Why GitHub Will Overtake SourceForge

I was listening to the GitHub interview on the Web 2.0 Show that I missed when I heard Chris mention something that deserves repeating.

When you show up to project page on SourceForge, you’re completely befuddled as to where to go next:

You begin to ask yourself some basic questions: how old is this project, is this even the right project, where can I just download the f’ing thing?

The first glaring problem after I resized the screenshot is that the only things still legible on the page are the advertisements.

Now, let’s take a look at a GitHub project page:

Even after a resize, a few things are clear: you can find the download button quickly (that will actually download a tarball instead of taking you through thirty-seven more pages), when the last commit happened, and a number of other easily visible things you may be interested in.

The project’s homepage also happens to be the source browser, which for any geek (myself included) tickles a certain funny bone, being able to look at the code immediately. Furthermore, the page also displays the root-level README (if provided), which normally holds a multitude of useful information; something you should be able to read before bothering to download the project.

And hey, no ads! GitHub charges for private repositories, thus relieving the burden of trying to generate revenue via pageviews.

It’s not just Visual

Sure, someone could skin SourceForge to not be totally brain-dead, but there are also fundamental differences as to how the sites work.

If you have a grievance with one of the libraries hosted on SourceForge, you’re stuck filing a bug report or emailing the owner. The project could be years old and virtually unmaintained, but nevertheless, that’s the standard protocol.

The complete reverse of that on GitHub is you can click one button to fork the project and have your own copy to do with what you will. Whether it be making your fixes and submitting them back to the original owner, keeping them to yourself, or even convince people that your fork is the repository that people should be using from now on.

Welcome to the new age of open source programming and we’ve only just begun, fork me.