Whelp, time to look for backup solutions for when Microsoft continues their strategy.
Even today there’s an article about github flagging (re shadow banning) a user with 10k+ lib users, and no response from them as to why the ban occurred.
Thinking of adding an “in case of emergency” link in my README for users in case of sudden service loss.
Anyone can already run their own, or install from remote git urls (not just github) as well. If the new organization undermines the community, the community can easily move.
NPM the company has had a significant number of missteps, and them getting better oversight and removing the need to be profitable will likely be better for everyone in the long run.
And no, you cannot cleanly separate between an ecosystem-defining tool and the company that controls how said tool will behave after the next automated update.
I do agree with the concerns of open source consolidation though. We need to find better ways of supporting open source projects instead of having them being bought by "large company".