Why do FOSS projects use github? Because it's a good product, simple. It has lots of features that people use every day that you don't necessarily find on other source code platforms. For example, their new code search is top class. You won't realize what's missing until you try to do the same thing elsewhere. GitHub also gets a lot of details right e.g. in pull requests and issue management.
Added to that, it has the largest community of developers, and those who would potentially participate in FOSS projects likely already have an account. It's where people already are and what they are familiar with.
(I have contributed to a few FOSS projects on github.)
This ‘everyone is using it so I need to also’ logic is funny to me, given the idea of the F in FOSS is to use network effects to spread the idea of software freedom. Using and thus endorsing a proprietary platform with ever increasing integration into the software lifecycle seems to do the exact opposite of that.
The code search is rather meh than top class. Any grep can do better. Also the code search requires one to log in, basically does not exist for not logged in users, which equals zero quality for them.
FOSS folks need a reality check, regarding of many of their beloved projects are now on the paychecks from Oracle, Microsoft, Oracle, Meta, IBM, Intel, Google, Apple, AMD, NVidia,....
From operating systems, programming languages, frameworks, compilers, editors, whatever.
While placing the code in Codeberg only to get warm feelings.
The beloved projects were already successful without those paychecks, hence why those companies took an interest in them in the first place and didn't (at least publicly) try to create their own alternatives knowing that they wouldnt be able to compete.
Since the companies have been in the extend phase of their EEE logic, their contributions to open source have been helpful, granted.
> 1996: Version 2.0 of the Linux kernel is released. The kernel can now serve several processors at the same time using symmetric multiprocessing (SMP), and thereby becomes a serious alternative for many companies.
Linux had been around for half a decade at that point, and companies took note and reacted accordingly in 1998.
Until 1998 was a toy kernel, that barely worked except in very special cases, as someone that tried to use 1.0.9 with IDE CD-ROMs in 1994, or fighting with X modeline for the graphics card to display a barely working 800x600 in 1996, will recall.
Only after those guys stepped in, it matured to something that would compete with Solaris, during the 2000's dotcom wave.
Ask yourself, why would large multinational corps step in to save a failing product that isn't their own, unless that product was a serious contender that threatened their bottom line.
It isn't a matter of proposed reality, rather the fact that somehow bills have to be paid, and all key FOSS projects happen to one way or the other, have developers paid by all big corps that people love to hate.
While this is of course true, there's nothing wrong with lamenting this state of affairs. In an ideal world, this wouldn't be the case, but since it is you might as well do better personally.
Codeberg does seem to be gaining some momentum with FOSS projects now though, at long last.