China is Working on Its Own GitHub Equivalent: Gitee

[Raevenlord]

GitHub serves as a repository for collaborative work in software development, with numerous open-source projects available and worked on by numerous coders, would-be coders, and others. It has been a paragon for a more open internet, with more open standards, and allowing for actual community-based troubleshoot and development. And it does so for anyone around the world.

However, China's efforts to decouple from its dependencies on the Western world for anything technologically-related has been a reason for the country to invest not only on infrastructure and silicon manufacturing, but also in programming and all of the related branches of the technology tree. Recent events initiated by Microsoft (which now owns GitHub) via severing connections to its GitHub repositories for various US-sanctioned countries such as Iran, Syria and Crimea clearly showed what dependencies on foreign-guaranteed resources can do to technological development. China wants to have an answer to that.





it's now been made public that the country is hoping for its seven-year-old Gitee to become a GitHub equivalent for the Eastern world. This lines up nicely with China's apparent enforcement of a GitHub ban way back in 2013. The goal of Gitee thus stands to construct an "independent, open-source code hosting platform for China." Gitee claims to have hosted over 10 million open-source repositories and provided services to over 5 million developers so far in its seven-year run. For comparison, GitHub reported having 100 million repositories and around 31 million developers worldwide last November.

"If China does not have its own open-source community to maintain and manage source codes, our domestic software industry will be very vulnerable to uncontrollable factors," said Huawei executive Wang Chenglu at an event last August, shortly after GitHub acted to comply with U.S. sanctions laws. And doesn't Huawei know all about being exposed to uncontrollable factors.

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[_JP_]

So many jailbreakes are going to show-up there

 

[gamefoo21]

Freedom of code...

Freedom of people...

*snicker*

 

[PowerPC]

Well, the technological war between US and China is in full force now. We'll keep seeing more and more "equivalents" pop up from China. But this can only be good for the consumer as these companies copy and improve on each other, so I'm rather optimistic for now. And if this doesn't end in an actual full-blown war, of course.

 

[windwhirl]

I'm gonna throw a guess and say that this is also for damage control should they attack GitHub, so that their own stuff will be safe from their own attacks.

 

[ZeppMan217]

I'm gonna throw a guess and say that this is also for damage control should they attack GitHub, so that their own stuff will be safe from their own attacks.

Reckon it's the other way, in case GitHub is ordered to clamp down on Chinese.

 

[lexluthermiester]

This is China's way of trying to isolate themselves from the rest of the world's software. I predict it will not be very popular.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

The nice thing about this, you can expect to have all your files spied on and combed for secret anti-china codes. Funstuff!

 

[lexluthermiester]

The nice thing about this, you can expect to have all your files spied on and combed for secret anti-china codes. Funstuff!

It's open source. Spying is not a part of the equation because it's all open for everyone to see anyway...

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

It's open source. Spying is not a part of the equation because it's all open for everyone to see anyway...

If its owned by the Chinese Government, spying sure the hell is. China has a long history of it. Open source gives China the excuse to censor you and your files and you can't say jack about it.

 

[Vayra86]

Well, the technological war between US and China is in full force now. We'll keep seeing more and more "equivalents" pop up from China. But this can only be good for the consumer as these companies copy and improve on each other, so I'm rather optimistic for now. And if this doesn't end in an actual full-blown war, of course.

On the cyber front, it has been a full blown war for several decades now. I think what you're seeing now is not so much a culmination of things, but rather that it has escaped anonymity of 'behind the scenes' cyber attacks and espionage. Governments have chosen to bring it public and the rest is history.

Usually the reason you want it public, is because you're aiming to create consensus among your people that there is a (common) enemy. Rather than asking 'if', I would personally ask 'when'. I don't share your optimism, I think it is wishful thinking and historically it has no basis whatsoever... unfortunately.

 

[WeeRab]

Microsoft owns Github - an international 'open-source' repository.
Microsoft denies access to multiple countries not on friendly terms with America.
Github no longer open-source.

China building its own version. What is the problem with that?

 

[Vayra86]

This is China's way of trying to isolate themselves from the rest of the world's software. I predict it will not be very popular.

Not outside China no, but that still leaves 1/3rd of the world population

 

[WeeRab]

The REAL reason for the sanctions on China, Russia, Iran etc. etc. Is they happen to be the countries divesting themselves from US debt.

 

[Vayra86]

The REAL reason for the sanctions on China, Russia, Iran etc. etc. Is they happen to be the countries divesting themselves from US debt.

It is obvious this whole charade is an ordinary power struggle. Unfortunately in a digital world you kinda do have to pick sides, or you get eaten. And in the physical one it is much the same.

 

[lexluthermiester]

If its owned by the Chinese Government, spying sure the hell is.

You are missing the point. It's OPEN source software, meaning anyone(government or otherwise) can look at what the devs are doing. It's not spying if EVERYONE can take a look at any given moment. That's why it's called "open".

The REAL reason for the sanctions on China, Russia, Iran etc. etc. Is they happen to be the countries divesting themselves from US debt.

That's a load of hog-wash.

 

[Caring1]

Well, the technological war between US and China is in full force now. We'll keep seeing more and more "equivalents" pop up from China. But this can only be good for the consumer as these companies copy and improve on each other, so I'm rather optimistic for now. And if this doesn't end in an actual full-blown war, of course.

And the irony is America will have to start producing products previously bought from China.

 

[R-T-B]

This is China's way of trying to isolate themselves from the rest of the world's software. I predict it will not be very popular.

I mean the isolation started with github banning countries wholly, but yes, it is leading to only further more isolation.

 

[PowerPC]

On the cyber front, it has been a full blown war for several decades now. I think what you're seeing now is not so much a culmination of things, but rather that it has escaped anonymity of 'behind the scenes' cyber attacks and espionage. Governments have chosen to bring it public and the rest is history.

Usually the reason you want it public, is because you're aiming to create consensus among your people that there is a (common) enemy. Rather than asking 'if', I would personally ask 'when'. I don't share your optimism, I think it is wishful thinking and historically it has no basis whatsoever... unfortunately.

Don't agree at all on this.

Espionage is one thing but when it's out in the open like this, the dynamic totally changes.

I compare this to the Cold War between the US and USSR. Even though it was hostile, it produced some of the most important innovations in modern history. People on the Moon and (even though not as known but probably even more important) the digital computer, among many other things, wouldn't have been developed at that pace or maybe even not at all in the case of the computer, had not especially the US government invested an incredible amount of resources into developing those things at the time for war purposes. The internet was something the military needed. Also, fast computers to break codes and for the Apollo Program among many other things, lead directly to the invention of modern transistors and integrated circuits. It was all about beating the other side and being better at everything. Exactly how it will be right now with the US and China. You know already that this can go way beyond just espionage and cyber attacks. It's a totally different thing now.

The optimism I have comes from the exact reason I described. And especially today a hot war is even less likely. Just a purely economic and innovation war between the two biggest global powers like that isn't the worst that can happen. Historically it actually clearly has more than enough basis, so I'm not sure where you're coming from with this.

 

[TheEndIsNear]

Not very fond of the Chinese government. Bunch of thugs if you ask me. How our country got involved with the after 89 is beyond me. Greed is king I guess. Let them keep isolating themselves. If we pulled everything out of China then I would be ecstatic. Been waiting 30 years for this. Probably won't though. I suppose they'll have their own internet soon if they don't already.

It's not anything like the cold war. All China does is steal tech. They innovate nothing.

 

[Tsukiyomi91]

With Japan pulling out all the major tech companies out of China & bringing them back to their home country or setting up shops in SEA region for cheaper labor & avoiding paying the exorbitant trade tariff that US x China has been doing, things are looking bleak for the Chinese. I say let them suffer.

 

[WeeRab]

Not very fond of the Chinese government. Bunch of thugs if you ask me. How our country got involved with the after 89 is beyond me. Greed is king I guess. Let them keep isolating themselves. If we pulled everything out of China then I would be ecstatic. Been waiting 30 years for this. Probably won't though. I suppose they'll have their own internet soon if they don't already.

It's not anything like the cold war. All China does is steal tech. They innovate nothing.

I remember the same accusations being levelled at Japan in the 1950's/60's. Then Taiwan and S. Korea in the 70's/80's.

 

[PowerPC]

It's not anything like the cold war. All China does is steal tech. They innovate nothing.

Don't underestimate China, that's all I have to say. They have around 4 times the population of the US... Just this number and their investment in AI and making every technology on their own will surely lead to enough innovation on their own part. You can already say that they are innovating in many different areas that have to do with population control and dealing with crime. Of course, that's not necessarily the kind of innovation you want as a free citizen, but it's innovation nonetheless. Their main goal right now is reaching AI supremacy first and because of their non-existent privacy laws, they're maybe already half-way there. The race towards AI supremacy is very similar to what the Space Race was about in the Cold War. So I see a lot of parallels here and I'm by far not the only one who sees it this way.

Espionage and stealing innovation only makes it even more like the Cold War, in my opinion. We don't even really know what secrets the US stole from the USSR and what USSR stole from the US because it was just a common thing and it definitely won't change this time around. I feel like China is only stealing more secrets because they are still way behind the US in tech. As this gap closes, or China even becomes superior, the US and other countries will start stealing from China. Stealing ideas and repurposing them for yourself is just part of human nature. As soon as something good gets invented, a million companies all over the world try to copy and sell it. It's not just China. China just does it on such a massive scale because of course their whole government does it and therefore every single company in China has to comply... Also very similar to the communist USSR. For me at least it's clear that history is repeating itself, as it often does.

Btw. China is already piloting self-driving busses that drive like trains only on certain lanes for mass transportation. I think they are doing many things on their own that people in the US don't even realize. So yes, stealing but also innovating is their game. The truth is, it doesn't really matter to them how they get ahead as long as they get ahead, even if it's sometimes unethical. I would never underestimate that kind of thinking. In fact, it could even work for them much faster, if people continue to underestimate them.

The best course for the world would be to isolate them completely. Not buy anything from China etc. But as long as people don't see China as a real threat to themselves, China has everything it needs. If you are a company and you are working closely with China, and you don't think China will stab you in the back and start selling their own improved version of your product for much cheaper soon, then you are delusional. But also if you are a consumer and continue to buy Chinese goods and services, you are basically paying for your country's companies own demise. This has been true for a long time but especially true now. The markets may not close completely because of many interests, but it's full-on cold war mode now between US and China. The Chinese probably already know this for a long time, their government at least. But people in other parts of the world are just realizing it.

 

[Ruru]

This is China's way of trying to isolate themselves from the rest of the world's software. I predict it will not be very popular.

I wouldn't actually be surprised if China would be sooner or later as isolated from outside Internet as North Korea..

 

[lexluthermiester]

I wouldn't actually be surprised if China would be sooner or later as isolated from outside Internet as North Korea..

That would be sad for everyone. The Chinese people are, for the most part, good folks. It's the government that has their heads up their collective butts. (Not intended to be a political statement, just an observation about the state of social affairs in China.)