Why GitHub?

Posted Jul 31, 2025 1:46 UTC (Thu) by gerdesj (subscriber, #5446)
In reply to: Why GitHub? by ballombe
Parent article: We need a European Sovereign Tech Fund (GitHub blog)

" A European Sovereign Tech Fund should start by funding an alternative to github that is not dependent on Microsoft."

Should ... something ... something EU .... it even be Git based? The ultimate irony is that git is not a centralized thingie at all. Mr T created it for Linux development and that's it.

github managed to create a weird centralized form of git and MS bought it and now we are where we are!

OK, perhaps git is good enough for us all. Perhaps git.co.eu and obviously we'll (UK) run up git.co.uk, will do the job.

Will they work? Yes, if github is required to scan and include the EU content as if it is local (with some disclaimers, perhaps)

Why GitHub?

Posted Jul 31, 2025 5:52 UTC (Thu) by ebee_matteo (subscriber, #165284) [Link] (8 responses)

There are several git forges around which are open source. Forgejo (and its instance at Codeberg) are good examples.

Gitlab can also be run on premises, even though not entirely open source.

I think the EU is more interested in making sure critical infrastructure is decoupled from the US on a cloud level and in terms of where the sensitive data of citizens is stored and processed.

And promote European startups. Since there are no big European tech companies except SAP, it is easier for EU startups to innovate and close the gap by building on top of open source software that growing to the size of US tech companies that have a huge lead. The EU ecosystem is much more dependent on a lot of small companies rather than a few big corporations, and as such a fund in this direction boosts the economy.

Why GitHub?

Posted Jul 31, 2025 9:28 UTC (Thu) by anselm (subscriber, #2796) [Link] (7 responses)

And promote European startups. Since there are no big European tech companies except SAP, it is easier for EU startups to innovate and close the gap by building on top of open source software that growing to the size of US tech companies that have a huge lead.

The problem here is that any European startups that look halfway interesting and innovative are likely to be acquired by US tech giants before they “close the gap”. There are no big tech companies in Europe (other than SAP) which would be able to offer the same sheer amount of €€€, and even a hypothetical sovereign tech fund would find it difficult to compete – while a billion dollars here or there makes no difference to the likes of Meta or Microsoft.

Why GitHub?

Posted Jul 31, 2025 10:07 UTC (Thu) by Wol (subscriber, #4433) [Link]

That, or simply out-competed (predatory pricing etc etc).

There used to be a lovely CD shop on the web called PastelBlue. Then it became COW (Cheap Or What). But then Amazon started selling anything and everything (including CDs) ...

Cheers,
Wol

Why GitHub?

Posted Jul 31, 2025 13:33 UTC (Thu) by dskoll (subscriber, #1630) [Link] (5 responses)

Well, in these days of Trump's "let's rip up the rules of global trade", the EU can start restricting the tech giants from acquiring European companies and can impose a digital services tax. What's the US going to do? Threaten tariffs, LOL?

Why GitHub?

Posted Jul 31, 2025 14:33 UTC (Thu) by Wol (subscriber, #4433) [Link]

And if transatlantic cables mysteriously break, causing internet congestion, we can always plausibly blame the Russians :-)

Cheers,
Wol

Why GitHub?

Posted Jul 31, 2025 15:06 UTC (Thu) by anselm (subscriber, #2796) [Link] (3 responses)

What's the US going to do? Threaten tariffs, LOL?

I think the big stick these days is basically threatening to withdraw from NATO or, at least, abandoning the idea of a definite commitment to the military defense of Europe against Russia should that be needed.

The problem here is less a full-out 1980s-style war than, say, the occupation of a small place on the fringes of the EU/NATO such as (part of) Estonia, which Putin might be tempted to try just to test the waters.

Why GitHub?

Posted Jul 31, 2025 15:48 UTC (Thu) by pizza (subscriber, #46) [Link]

> The problem here is less a full-out 1980s-style war than, say, the occupation of a small place on the fringes of the EU/NATO such as (part of) Estonia, which Putin might be tempted to try just to test the waters.

After all, it's only a "war" if Estonia (and/or the rest of the EU) has the audacity to defend its territory.

Why GitHub?

Posted Aug 6, 2025 8:42 UTC (Wed) by Lennie (subscriber, #49641) [Link] (1 responses)

"What's the US going to do? Threaten tariffs, LOL?"

The biggest issue is ASML, it has over 5000 suppliers in over 100 countries, including some very important ones in the US.

Why GitHub?

Posted Aug 6, 2025 14:13 UTC (Wed) by dskoll (subscriber, #1630) [Link]

The entire semiconductor industry, upon which the US is very heavily dependent, relies on AMSL. Trying to harm AMSL would be a massive own-goal.

Why GitHub?

Posted Aug 1, 2025 18:38 UTC (Fri) by simlo (guest, #10866) [Link]

We ought switch to https://radicle.xyz/. You can probably push it to GitHub to get free storage and publication of your project, but have all topics in git itself to avoid lock-in.