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Microsoft Is Said to Have Agreed to Acquire GitHub

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Re: Microsoft Is Said to Have Agreed to Acquire GitHub

#111
post #89

I worry about github too. BUT, at least with github most of the data is open. And they have a worthy competitor in Gitlab. Might be a bit of disruption if MS mess things up, but not a disaster.

Why not self-hosting?

I'm not sure what exactly you're reacting to, but a lot of us absolutely do not want to self-host our github repos. Because it's work, because we don't need it, because we like using github/gitlab/other as a "marketplace"

Re: Microsoft Is Said to Have Agreed to Acquire GitHub

#112
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what did they do with LinkedIn?? I havent noticed any change. as for Skype, its completely ruined. I have it installed but I am scared to open it. Horrible GUI. Constant updates and generally just useless now.

> what did they do with LinkedIn?? I havent noticed any change. I think that's his point. He's saying that LinkedIn has the opportunity to do lots of interesting things, and appears to be squandering it.

LinkedIn is perfect already.

Re: Microsoft Is Said to Have Agreed to Acquire GitHub

#113
post #6
post #2

I guess it's time to move to Gitlab.

MS has had an 180 degree turn in policy since Balmer left. Lately they released amazing open-source projects with VSCode being the most prominent one.

As i know it started under Balmer, but he have to left because the failed phone OS.

Re: Microsoft Is Said to Have Agreed to Acquire GitHub

#116

I'm worried. Consider what happened to Skype. Consider what happened to LinkedIn. I worry something similar will happen to Github. And I love Github. At some point Microsoft told me I had to change my password for Skype. The "Reset your password" process failed 6 times in a row. I eventually had to create a new, Microsoft ID, to use Skype. I lost all of my old contacts and had to slowly recreate my address book. This…

Me too. I'm waiting for the official transaction to be done and i'm preparing a plan b in case i have to migrate everything. More mitigation work is just what i needed. The skype one took years, many failures, and resulting in the use of several tools instead of one. Not a win.

Isn't that one of the strengths of Git? The whole decentralization means that it is ridiculously simply to take the whole shebang and migrate to another service or even just self host on a cheap VPS.

Re: Microsoft Is Said to Have Agreed to Acquire GitHub

#117
I spent eight years building software on .NET, so I have a lot of time for Microsoft, but I fully understand why a lot of people aren't happy with this news. It's been good to have a leader in open-source that is unaffiliated with anyone but the tech they chose to use (Ruby/Rails). For me, it doesn't matter who takes it over - it's just sad to see a neutral player disappear.

With all that said, things have changed a lot over at GitHub over the past 2-3 years, so I can't say I'm all that surprised that this was the outcome. Restructures, scandals, and some crazy comments over the few years has led me to believe that GitHub probably isn't the same company that the development community embraced. For that reason, I can't see Microsoft doing a "Skype" and merging GitHub into their platforms. Developers are fickle, and if Microsoft mess with GitHub then it's not only a huge blow to the relations they've been trying to build for the past few years, it's a guaranteed way to see developers flock to the next big service (i.e. GitLab).

Re: Microsoft Is Said to Have Agreed to Acquire GitHub

#118
post #89

I worry about github too. BUT, at least with github most of the data is open. And they have a worthy competitor in Gitlab. Might be a bit of disruption if MS mess things up, but not a disaster.

Why not self-hosting?

But what about the social / code sharing / collaboration part, which is arguably the most interesting part? We need a quality central meeting place.

Re: Microsoft Is Said to Have Agreed to Acquire GitHub

#120
post #18

I feel a great disturbance in the Force. As if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.

I feel the same. It's not the end of free software, but the end of free software as we knew it (or something, still trying to rationalize). Someone explain the extreme feeling of uneasiness penetrating our brains.

Microsoft has a history of taking the open source philosophy out of their products. Github is one of the few large, commercially successful platforms that have not only embraced, but built their entire platform around those fundamental values.

It's not a surprise we feel unease, and to hope that Microsoft is actually going in a direction that aligns with those values, instead of simply twisting them for it's own continued success - that's being a bit naive.

We'll all see what happens, but honestly, I wish their was one web platform that existed out there, that could stay stable in it's philosophy, and not succumb to embracing the chaos invoked through economic success.

There are plenty of examples that stick to the core philosophy of open source software and open ideas, but there are rarely examples that manage to become extremely successful and maintain that success without drowning in the confusion created through their own influence.

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