GitHub and Git are the most popular open source tools among developers, a recent survey has revealed. 

The survey was conducted by the software behemoth and Windows maker Microsoft Corp., and it involved over 1000 participants who shared their opinions on the existing source control systems as well as on hosting sites. 

A similar survey was conducted by the company in November, 2010, and now a comparison between both helps understanding the changes that have come into being in the domain in these 8 odd months.

The study portrayed how GitHub has turned into a smashing hit amongst developers using Linux as their operating system. GitHub’s share in the market in terms of number of users increased by 10 percent whereas that for BitBucket underwent a steady decline.

This essentially suggests that GitHub now enjoys popularity amongst at least two-third of developers with Linux as their OS, and another 85 percent of Mac developers. 

And, when it comes to source control, Git has emerged as the most popular platform for all three major operating systems - Windows, Linux and Mac. But in comparison to the 78% and 65% of Mac and Linux based developers, only 33 percent of their Windows counterparts prefer Git as their first choice.