what about having a free, opensource, FreeBSD server to power a GIT server?
Someone having a spare computer for this (using FreeBSD) ?
This is IMO the correct solution but only for individual developers. For example I have a simple server (actually svn rather than git because I like svnserve and git has no equivalent) that gets backed up to a few other servers at 3am.
Anyone who works on my projects will be given access and the only dodgy part is if they try to commit at exactly 3am, it might have a corrupted backup until the next day (I really should lock / disable the server during the backup but worst case scenario is I lose a day of work).
If this was for a corporation or for the public, as
ralphbsz pointed out, it I cannot guarantee (or more like, will not guarantee) the robustness or uptime unless this was my full time job (which I would never let it be XD).
So for individual developers, they should really host their own and for corporations they should have full time employee(s) who manages the corporate VCS server.
I personally do not quite see where these big public VCS services (like GitHub) actually enter the equation to be honest. I don't believe the "cloud" holds any value. For open-source projects, GitHub may seem great but for GitHub, open-source projects are the last thing it really wants.
<ramble>
So that leads me to believe Microsoft wants control over some key platforms:
Linked-in - The professional portfolio website
GitHub - The development portfolio website
? - The tool for developing software easily to stick on a portfolio
So it is probably looking into controlling IT professionals portfolios and is perhaps dreaming of being able to "discredit" those developers / professionals who don't buy into its stupid ecosystem. And I think it is trying to control these outposts in a similar way that Apple gained a foot hold by getting kids and students addicted to "incorrectness" at a young age. So it can lie, brainwash and indoctrinate the large majority of the industry.
So my prediction is... Microsoft, for their next purchase is going to want to obtain a "trendy" development tool that a massive proportion of slightly more naive developers (read: shite developers) use to try to show off their "coder skills" as a portfolio piece. By doing this, Microsoft will get them under their thumb. In the hobbiest / game industry that is an easy choice. I think Microsoft will purchase Unity 3D (i.e the new Adobe Flash). Whether or not the hobby industry holds any value for Microsoft is another matter. Have a think about what "crappy" developers use in order for them to masquerade as "good" developers in your specific industry, and I think this might be a candidate for Microsoft's next purchase based on their current direction.