There is gitlab, a decent alternative. Bitbucket is a (poor) option too. I think I would quibble with that dependency statement. Github is providing a lot of services, high availability, project tracking, a web api, etc...
The money model, as is for many free to FOSS tools is that by getting devs tooo use those tools, they'll carry forward to their professional lives and recommend the adoption by their companies. That does happen in practice, so it seems like the money model will not necessarily flip like it did for sourceforge (which kinda was garbage and the only game in town)
I would disagree about the industry dependency compared to FOSS. Many companies are not on github
So, that is to say the dependency aspect is a concern. So far Microsoft has overall been a steward for FOSS and copilot is not at all nearly enough to lose that trust. It is always a bit nerve wracking to place your balls in someone else's hands... and it was concerning when MSFT bought github.. but they have not been evil, not even close yet (in the grand picture)
You say BitBucket and Gitlab are alternatives, but at the same time you can not fathom the idea of migrating away from GitHub. So it's safe to say that GitHub has a de facto control of the market, much like Windows controlled the desktop market until early 2000's.
I can fathom a migration. It's just not pretty & is expensive. The experience coming out of source forge was not pleasant, and that was before the project even had a CI/CD. The early days of Github were game changers for FOSS, no more consolidating email patches together, etc.. So, this goes to whether Github still has a reputation and a brand for being a good home to FOSS. The argument that copilot, which automates what is otherwise an available and a manual process, and lifts just lines of code and small sections - is not at all "reproducing software". It's like someone used the "pad left" functionality from someones Javascript on their web page. Being able to do that is part of the point, it is a feature of openness, it's not a corporate back-door, market monopoly enabling flaw.
I'm curious if anyone can find references, though when I researched market share of code hosting companies a few years ago (for a private company that was moving off of BitBucket), it turned out that there were more private companies on Gitlab than Github. Github though had a big advantage for hosting FOSS. We wound up moving to Microsoft Azure because the scrum boards and Microsoft integration were appealing and familiar to the company. I don't see it being analagous as Windows desktop control in the early 2000's.
As an alternative to github... one of these is not like the others.
In any case... why github? What is so unique about it that you can't even consider other possibilities? I guess soon people will be non-ironically saying "no one ever got fired for hosting their code at Github" and turn a blind eye to perfectly usable, open alternatives who does not lock us in.
For what? Fear of taking responsibility for maintaining the basic tools for their job? If that is the case, you can always pay for other smaller, independent companies who can host at competitive rates.
Anyway, you do you. I'm tired of playing Cassandra, and I'm tired of seeing people giving in to convenience and general conformity.
The money model, as is for many free to FOSS tools is that by getting devs tooo use those tools, they'll carry forward to their professional lives and recommend the adoption by their companies. That does happen in practice, so it seems like the money model will not necessarily flip like it did for sourceforge (which kinda was garbage and the only game in town)
I would disagree about the industry dependency compared to FOSS. Many companies are not on github
So, that is to say the dependency aspect is a concern. So far Microsoft has overall been a steward for FOSS and copilot is not at all nearly enough to lose that trust. It is always a bit nerve wracking to place your balls in someone else's hands... and it was concerning when MSFT bought github.. but they have not been evil, not even close yet (in the grand picture)