GitHub releases Metro-style Windows client amid rumours of $800m funding round

GitHub, the social coding site based on Linus Torvaldss version control system (DVCS) Git, has released a graphical client for Windows
GitHub, the “social coding” site that has done much to
popularise the distributed version control system (DVCS) Git over
the last half-decade, has released a
graphical client for Windows. The app, which features a UI in
Microsoft’s much-hyped ‘Metro’ style, runs on Windows 7, Windows 8
Consumer Preview, Vista and even the aging XP, still a popular
choice in slow-moving enterprise environments.
Indeed, it’s the enterprise market which seems to have driven the
client’s development, with GitHub aiming to expand its influence
beyond the early-adopting ‘hackerati’ of open source devs
and freelancers. It’s telling that the
logo for the app wears a Windows-branded polo shirt tucked into
jeans — with the release announcement asking questions like
“Turned off by command line utilities and setting up SSH keys?”, it
makes no attempt to be cool. At least the designers have avoided
the socks-and-sandals cliché.
GitHub for Windows comes at an auspicious time for the company,
with PandoDaily
reporting rumours of an upcoming $500m-$800m funding round led
by Andreessen Horowitz. Given the close relationship between Pando
and Marc Andreesseen (i.e. a healthy $2.5m angel round), we’re
inclined to believe their “sources”. GitHub currently boasts 55
employees in its San Francisco offices and its user base keeps on
growing, with the company having hit the one million mark back in
September.
Zero Turnaround’s recent
2012 Developer Productivity Report showed that Git still has
some way to go in at least one enterprise environment, scoring 33%
to Subversion’s 66% in popularity among Java EE developers. But as
new projects emerge and huge existing code bases such as PHP are
migrated, usage is bound to skyrocket — and where Git goes,
GitHub is sure to follow.