Yes, it is an issue.

Why would Microsoft prioritize development and improvements of GitHub when they don't earn a profit from it?

When (in the future) Microsoft needs to earn more profits, they have to make a choice.

Either they improve GitHub and get more developers on board with X.

Or, they improve their Cloud Hosting service, which actually improve profits.

Since GitHub is basically just a cost (with the hopeful promise of future returns of developer mindshare) while Azure makes profit, it's much more likely Microsoft will focus on improving Azure before GitHub.

And as a GitHub user, that idea makes me worry.

It's a bit more nuanced IMO.

I would bet on there being a intense internal competition between Github and the Azure dev tool stack right now.

All the new products Github is introducing are exactly designed to increase the value proposition for paying customers and bind/lure them to the platform instead of them going with AWS/Azure/Google dev tools.

This will increase revenue for Github, and is probably in part driven by internal pressure to make Github profitable.

> Why would Microsoft prioritize development and improvements of GitHub when they don't earn a profit from it?

Because they also use it for their own works.

> when they don't earn a profit from it?

Developers, developers, developers.

The issue is not one of "monetization" vs. "non-monetization", but one of priorities being driven primarily by the interests of a corporate surveillance capitalist owner rather than what's healthy for the community.

Google's agendas (advertising, amp, etc.) are clear in the design decisions taken for Chrome, and slowly we're beginning to see analogous prioritisation come to GitHub. Expect more to come in time.