It’s easy to get caught up in trying out new tools and platforms, and picking them based on what seems like a significant difference in features to you. Sometimes, a few extra features just aren’t worth it. If the platform is a key piece to whatever it being launched, whether that’s an OSS repo, a blog, or your t-shirt printing startup, you want to be or be using something that a vast majority of your users are familiar with. The value of familiarity and the ability to be discovered more easily is insane.
Take Signal for example. You’d think it’d be relatively easy to get your family and friends to switch over, as it works exactly how their standard texting and messaging app would work. Users are fragmented everywhere, instead using services like Telegram, WhatsApp, Messenger, Discord. They got onboarded by someone to one platform, and it just stuck. This is about messaging apps, but it can be applied across the board. No one wants to sign up for accounts and use 5 different apps for the same thing.
Are you launching an OSS project? Where are most of your users going to come from? What about your contributors (if your project relies on OSS contributors)? Do you want it eventually integrated by default into an environment? Perhaps it’s targeting a specific flavor of Linux to replace a default utility. What get’s your project the most views over time, and what are your users most familiar with? These are all valuable questions to be answered before making a move.
In these situations, don’t get analysis paralysis and worry for weeks over what choice to make. Make the simple choice. Where have previous projects in your same niche seen success? Is it GitHub? Then choose GitHub. Unless you have legitimate worries, there’s no reason to drag the problem out when the solution is right in front of you.
It’s like purchasing a weapon-mounted light for a concealed carry gun. You don’t buy some random untested third-party light then act surprised when you have issues trying to find a holster that fits it. There’s a specific tool for each job that’s the easy choice and yields the greatest chance of success. In this instance, you’d choose the most popular light for that gun, as it would have the most holsters. EZPZ.
Hi, I'm alp1n3
This is a collection of my cybersecurity notes & projects.
I graduated from Dakota State University with a MS in Cyber Defense & BS in Cyber Operations. Since then I've worked as a Malware Analyst with the U.S. Army Cyber Command, and am now a Web Application Security Consultant.
I'm a big fan of open security standards for applications and workflow automation when it comes to security testing. The easier it is to identify and replicate, the more secure everyone's apps can be! My other writings and projects are scattered across the web, but can be found in the links page.
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