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SourceForge Eliminates DevShare Program (sourceforge.net)

SourceForge has officially eliminated its DevShare program. The DevShare program delivered installer bundles as part of the download for participating projects. We want to restore our reputation as a trusted home for open source software, and this was a clear first step towards that. We are more interested in doing the right thing than making extra short-term profit. This is just the first step in a number of improvements we will outline in the coming weeks. SourceForge and Slashdot were acquired in late January by BIZX.

19 of 454 comments (clear)

  1. Too late by JazzXP · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The majority of the good open source apps have moved to GitHub over this, and user trust in the site is dead. I know myself and a number of people I know don't go there anymore, hell, uBlock even blocks it by default.

    1. Re:Too late by EmeraldBot · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yeah and we are focused on fixing all the issues that have caused projects to move.

      And that's the good part, the alternative is that it just permanently stays the way it was. If Whiplash (and friends) are willing to work to make it better, I'm willing to keep an open mind about it, and you should too.

      --
      "Set a man a fire, he'll be warm for the rest of the night. Set a man afire, he'll be warm for the rest of his life."
    2. Re:Too late by whipslash · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Appreciate your reasonable tone

    3. Re:Too late by MightyMartian · · Score: 5, Insightful

      At least you folks are answering questions. I'll take a wait and see, buff SourceForge was once great, and it would be nice to see regain at least some ground.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    4. Re:Too late by H_Fisher · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Well said.

      On a related note, I've noticed that, for the most part, the quality and amount of interesting news has gone up since the new regime took over. Keep it up, Whipslash et al. So far, so good.

    5. Re:Too late by r.freeman · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Indeed, fuck github's SJW and censorship - but - no problem it's git. Just push to 3 other servers and run own one.

      PGP sign git commits, or at least the tags with published binaries and all security issues are fixed too.

    6. Re:Too late by ShaunC · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I, for one, welcome^W am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. Whatever motives BIZX has, you at least seem to be accepting and acting upon feedback. I find GitHub's politicizing to be rather irksome, so it would be nice to see SF rise from its ashes and provide another alternative.

      --
      Thanks to the War on Drugs, it's easier to buy meth than it is to buy cold medicine!
    7. Re:Too late by BronsCon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This is the helpful home that I remember Slashdot being when I first started lurking in the late 90's, long before I created this account. Thank you for being part of the solution.

      --
      APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
    8. Re:Too late by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Don't mistake all the noise about Github's policies for a mass of users just waiting to migrate though. Look at Reddit, you would think the internet nearly imploded to read about it, but actually the great saviour Voat is still a distance second place and now full of people the average Reddit user wants to avoid anyway.

      Better to focus on features and utility. Sourceforge used to provide a nice way for open source projects to offer binary downloads. Github allows it, but you have to set stuff up manually, update links etc. With Sourceforge you just released and it pointed users in the right direction.

      I think there is a gap in the market for a more user-focused hosting web site. Github has bug tracking and wikis, but they could both be improved on. User contributed documentation is something that could be great if implemented right. Often it kinda builds itself around forum stickies, but I'm sure it could be done better if formalized.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  2. Re:Haha, NOPE. by whipslash · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We just purchased the site a week ago. I think your anger is misdirected.

  3. i do like a clean gravesite... by Pseudonymous+Powers · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Nobody else has said so, so let me say: Thanks for trying to fix things, New Management. I appreciate efforts like these. Keep it up.

    The others are probably right about it being too late to make much difference, of course. Broken trust is a mother. And none of us are really sure how reputable the new bosses are, of course. But I feel it's important to recognize and encourage any steps in the right direction. So thanks again.

  4. Re:Haha, NOPE. by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 4, Insightful

    First, good on you to start fixing things in the first week. I know that I miss the days of being able to download things off of sourceforge.

    Secondly, do you have an overarching philosophy you can share about how you plan on running your new acquisitions. I know a mission statement is often a lame thing, but I think something that clearly explained your vision, and that people could judge your future actions by, would be nice..

    --
    Your ad here. Ask me how!
  5. Re:Also eliminated grammar by alvinrod · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Holy crap, an editor that fixed an error in TFS!

    That's bigger news than the article itself.

  6. Don't forget by Runaway1956 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The goal is to hire non-white sales people. Github's boss has declared that she can't even interview white people. Worse, she has declared that white WOMEN are the enemy. Racists are racists, no matter which race they are denigrating.

    --
    "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
  7. Re:Sorry Assholes by cfalcon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You have no idea how glad this makes me. I've had that site blacklisted for years. The first time it had shitware bundled in I was done. Thank you for just straight up buying the whole goddamned thing and fixing it.

  8. Re:Sorry Assholes by cfalcon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You do understand this is a new crew right? Like if you had bought sourceforge a year ago, and then immediately fixed the shitware problem, you'd expect people to be happy with that, right? Well that is what happened.

  9. Re:Sorry Assholes by NickHydroxide · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Slashdot has turned into an incredibly angry, toxic environment over the past 5 years (which is pretty visible in this thread and, IMO, part of the reason why the site was/is suffering), so I dug up my old account and logged in just to give you some positive feedback. It looks like your heads and hearts are in the right place and it would be great to see Slashdot restored to its former glory. SourceForge could definitely become a major competitor to GitHub (for one, I think GH is too expensive) so that's one avenue to go down.

    I'm already returning to Slashdot more regularly and it's only been a week since you took the reins - so keep it up.

  10. Re:Sorry Assholes by narcc · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is Slashdot, home of the perpetually dissatisfied user. If Microsoft, Mozilla, Sony, or whoever simultaneously ended world hunger, cured cancer, and gave you shiny red balloon, they'd bitch about the color.

  11. Re:Sorry Assholes by stoborrobots · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Even when that 7-digit user is the new *OWNER* of /. ???