Microsoft acquires GitHub

Is this good, bad, or otherwise?

https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2018/06/04/microsoft-github-empowering-developers/

 

Lots of tears, tantrums and tin foil hats on the Internets these last few days. I don't think modern Microsoft is the same as Microsoft from 10 years ago, let alone 20 years ago. They also bought LinkedIn, and nothing terrible happened there.

Also consider that Microsoft is one of the largest users of GitHub:
https://github.com/Microsoft

They've embraced open source in a big way, and it's clear that they understand it's necessary to make "cloud" in general, and Azure specifically, work.

I genuinely think this is a "meh" moment. Not worthy of either celebration nor the outrageous fear that seems to be coming from some. It also means GitHub gets a bit of financial backing (they've bled cash for a long time), which isn't terrible either. Like it or not, even open source needs money to survive sometimes.

[edit]

And remember, I hate Windows and Office. So this isn't some Microsoft fanboy thing on my behalf. But I understand the difference between two shitty products, and massive company who makes thousands of other products.

 

I'm moving to AWS Codecommit not because I think they are a better citizen then MS, but like everything AWS you can encrypt it from prying eyes.

Nice of you to be forgiving elvis but remeber the Greeks came bearing gifts for the Trojans.

 

Companies change, and typically so when leadership changes. Nadella is nothing like either Gates nor Ballmer (especially Ballmer - that guy was a dangerous combination of stupid, greedy and spiteful. At least Gates was just greedy and ruthless).

With that said, yes, it could change again post-Nadella. But taking the company on the merit of right now, it's not the same beast it was years ago. More to the point, competitors keep companies honest. You mention AWS, and that's a big reason why Microsoft is who they are today. Google too. All of these companies embrace communities and open source to do great things at a larger scale than just their own microcosm. And that is exactly where Microsoft *almost* failed under Ballmer, and turned itself around in the last few years.

Their previous leadship said "Linux is cancer", and their current leadership said "Microsoft 'hearts' Linux". That's a complete about-face on a major company philosophy. And more to the point, it shows maturity in that Microsoft now realise competing with everyone is less profitable than partnering with everyone to make the larger software ecosystem better, all together.

But, I'll be clear and repeat myself - that is the merit of right now. I don't judge Microsoft on their actions of their previous leaders and 10 years ago. But I also don't hold on to current goodness of any company. If that changes, it changes, and they'll be judged on their values at that point in time. For now, they're doing good things. But it also doesn't hurt to keep backups, regardless of how you store your stuff (local, cloud, or otherwise).

 

I choose not to use MS, a choice I made 100% 6 years ago, no MS and no Apple, so I have biases that I'm unwilling to renegotiate.

 

I don't know on this one. I'm hearing two stories, and I'm seeing a potential for this to go either way.

On the one hand, there's Azure, and in the other hand, it's Microsoft.

I remain open-minded, but cynical.

 

I'm left by the whole thing feeling a bit ambivalent. I'm not entirely happy about the aquisition, but nor do I feel in a great rush to move the cloud copies of my repos over to another cloud provider. Especially not as I dont trust Atlassian one centimetre further than microsoft. If I start seeing changes I'm not happy with in github *then* I might ponder making a move. Perhaps to gitlab. But then, isnt it wonderful how easy it is to move git repos .

 

And no Google I hope.

Google and Facebook are probably the worst companies at the moment.

 

Never used Facebook ever.

Working on Google, actually working on not having a phone.

 

I'm sure when you're using the internet, somewhere you're unknowingly running traffic through one of Microsoft's servers. Curious how you feel about that?

 

I've moved away from Google products for my business. That's a start at least. No Facebook either...

As for the Github purchase, I don't see anything "bad" happening with github. It's a move to make Microsoft appear "open-source friendly" but will most likely be used as the top of the funnel to push people into microsofts dev network.

 

"A start" of what? What's your ultimate intention?

 

My first thought was "OMG well that's ruined now", based evidently on '10 years ago Microsoft'.

Having read elvis' posts, especially the second one, I tend to think he's right and hasn't left the building at all.

Time will tell, but no need to panic.


It will be interesting to keep a close eye on any changes to the user agreement over time....

 

Removing myself from using any of these major "cloud" services including dropbox, icloud etc.

 

Does it bother you that almost every vendor you use uses those services behind the scenes?

 

Yeah I understand that too, you can't escape it fully but minimising my exposure to any extent is better than not.

 

Umm no. If you use dropbox directly, or use a reseller that sells you dropbox with their own branding - either way you are still using dropbox.

Me, I'm trying to figure out nextcloud...

 

I did that, it was called the 1970s and 80s. Good times.

 

I use a computer all the time so it is easy for someone to contact me most of the time without being tracked all the time. Looking for a service that can send and receive SMS messages and forward them to mail or other notification service that I control, and a VOIP based phone service that has the ability to answer all incoming calls and pass on a message to email or other notification system that I control, so if I choose to return genuine call I simple use VOIP on my computer.

 

Got rid of my desk phone at work. That cut out everyone who's not smart enough to use IM. That alone has been the single biggest boost to my productivity in decades.