I thought about them doing it for mindshare. However people can be very opinionated about editors especially outside of the enterprise and they're not competing with any IDEs. There's just fundamentally not a lot of mindshare to grab here.
They also already have a ton of it. If they want to grab more mindshare, they should significantly improve their education offering. The free plan is nice but doesn't make anyone (want to) use it. They're a few systems for assignments that use SVN to submit assignments, the ones I've used at university all sucked. Create a significantly better solution here and every single computer science student becomes aware of Github.
In any case working on mindshare is an investment in the future, if you're ahead of your competition and can maintain your position relative to them it makes sense to work on mindshare. This is not the case for Github at least not anymore.
Coca-cola is good example of why it's not a bad idea to invest in mindshare, even when you are an incumbent in a particular space. If the atom editor was blowing peoples mind away, I would think it makes perfect sense to keep investing in atom, but the pattern today is:
- A new version of atom is released and the top voted comment is "Why is it so slow compared to vscode".
- A new version of vscode is releases and the top voted comment is "Why is atom so slow compared to vscode"
With Coco-cola, you are reinforcing an intangible belief, plus your target audience is pretty diverse and suggestible (not the smartest). Mindshare also works with Apple, since they also have a very diverse and suggestible consumer base.
The atom editor is a power tool and its job, is not to help you watch a movie, satisfy a craving, etc. Its purpose is to help you be more productive and when it comes to productivity, it can be measured and this is where Microsoft really threw a wrench into their plans.
Starting the atom editor wasn't a bad move, but with Microsoft's current strategy with vscode, I would think it's time to cut your losses and focus on more immediate needs, like fending off GitLab and hardening your core competencies.
I don't know how many people, out of their 500+ plus employees are working on atom, but I would have to imagine, using their resources to make an enterprise grade issue tracking and wiki/content management system would be a wiser choice.
They also already have a ton of it. If they want to grab more mindshare, they should significantly improve their education offering. The free plan is nice but doesn't make anyone (want to) use it. They're a few systems for assignments that use SVN to submit assignments, the ones I've used at university all sucked. Create a significantly better solution here and every single computer science student becomes aware of Github.
In any case working on mindshare is an investment in the future, if you're ahead of your competition and can maintain your position relative to them it makes sense to work on mindshare. This is not the case for Github at least not anymore.