A purported jab of Sony’s physical media phase-out blows up on GitHub itself.
You’re too late! Monday was the last day to score your own free CD of your GitHub repository, which the Microsoft-owned subsidiary offered to mail to the first 1,000 people who asked. But as of noon eastern time, that offer has been withdrawn (if it was ever genuine) after sparking confusion and ridicule.Last Thursday, GitHub issued a short notice on X extending an offer:
In light of recent developments in physical media, GitHub is proud to announce that you can now obtain your public repo on CD-ROM.Keep it. Lend it to friends. Pass it on to your children.Your code is physically yours, forever. Until you lose it, let's be real.Order yours today.What “recent developments” the company referred to is anyone’s guess, though it implied that it came about as some sort of public pressure: “We heard you. And we agree,” the X missive began. (“No one fucking asked for this” one commenter retorted). Many media outlets, including Tom’s Hardware and Destructoid, speculated that GitHub’s offer was actually a jab at Sony for discontinuing optical media for its PlayStation consoles in 2028.GitHub was not alone in its mockery of the Sony announcement. Nintendo and other companies responded. Even the Spanish arm of the KFC fast food chain took aim at Sony on social media, mockingly announcing it would no longer offer its “physical format” (“ÚLTIMA HORA: KFC dejará de ofrecer su formato físico a partir de hoy.”).But the GitHub joke came with an action item, and that’s where the trouble started.
