Post date: Nov 07, 2008 9:1:9 PM
I've been using assembla for close to two years now. I'm pretty sure that was just about when they launched, and I've been singing their praises ever since. Unfortunately, they've just recently announced their new (non-free) subscription model. That's somewhat unfair, because I can still use their service for free as long as my projects are public, but the whole reason I selected their service in the first place was for the private hosting option.
I briefly considered actually paying for the service, until I realized that the fee was levied per space, and since I had create 50+ spaces at this point. In fact, I think I'm realizing that I may not be their target consumer. I've basically been creating new spaces for every single project, idea, and latex report for the last two years. Its succeeded magnificently in satisfying my goal of not accidentally deleting my work, and allowing me to access my projects from work, home, wherever. Naturally most of them are not active, and don't contain much, but serve as useful organization markers nonetheless. I could host my own private service, but then again, I've found nothing as unrewarding in this life as keeping a server online.
In response to the backlash they've announced free spaces for student projects, but as this seems to require involving the school I think I'm better off searching for another free, private, svn/trac hosting service, rather than get mired in more of the school's bureaucratic bullshit, trying to get "approval" each time I want to create a new project.
So now I'm an assembla refugee searching for alternatives, and all my searches keeping turning up assembla again and again. I have, however, a few promising sites, Origo and Beanstalk, but then the question becomes "how likely is it that they will remain free?" At first glance, Beanstalk looks a bit more polished (and commercial), but Origo seems more committed to being free.