Git - the protocol - helps enable a distributed edit & merge ... but Git itself is not a Schelling Point. Github is a Schelling Point. (I made a previous comment about this conceptual difference.[0])
Likewise, the HTTP protocol can't be a Schelling Point but web nodes that use http like Facebook or HN can be Schelling Points.
(One can get pedantic and argue that pure protocols like git/http/tcpip can also be viewed as Schelling Points on a relative basis (compared to 1960s AT&T leased-lines) but we don't have to dissect that because the social congregation around sites like Github happens at a higher layer than the protocol.)
>Who cares if a hosting server is lost? 5 minutes and you're up on a different server.
Not only did both Google and Microsoft abandoned their own public code collaboration websites, they also both tried to acquire Github.[1] As we now know, MS had the better offer to Github's owners in 2018.
Both corporate giants had the money to run their own git-protocol compatible servers and yet they abandoned them for Github. Think about why did that.
Maybe the reasons are social, not technical? Therefore, spending 5 minutes to move a git repo to an unknown server doesn't actually accomplish the same thing Github accomplishes.
Git - the protocol - helps enable a distributed edit & merge ... but Git itself is not a Schelling Point. Github is a Schelling Point. (I made a previous comment about this conceptual difference.[0])
Likewise, the HTTP protocol can't be a Schelling Point but web nodes that use http like Facebook or HN can be Schelling Points.
(One can get pedantic and argue that pure protocols like git/http/tcpip can also be viewed as Schelling Points on a relative basis (compared to 1960s AT&T leased-lines) but we don't have to dissect that because the social congregation around sites like Github happens at a higher layer than the protocol.)
>Who cares if a hosting server is lost? 5 minutes and you're up on a different server.
Google announced shutdown of Google Code on March 2015: https://venturebeat.com/2015/03/12/google-code-disables-new-...
Microsoft announced shutdown of CodePlex on March 2017: https://venturebeat.com/2017/03/31/github-wins-microsoft-is-...
Not only did both Google and Microsoft abandoned their own public code collaboration websites, they also both tried to acquire Github.[1] As we now know, MS had the better offer to Github's owners in 2018.
Both corporate giants had the money to run their own git-protocol compatible servers and yet they abandoned them for Github. Think about why did that.
Maybe the reasons are social, not technical? Therefore, spending 5 minutes to move a git repo to an unknown server doesn't actually accomplish the same thing Github accomplishes.
[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14894128
[1] https://www.google.com/search?q=google+tried+to+buy+github