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What is wrong with Microsoft buying GitHub

jacquesmattheij.com

141–150 of 228 posts

Re: What is wrong with Microsoft buying GitHub

#141
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Windows 10 is really recent though. That said, since I like controversy: I'm happier to see Microsoft buy Github than I would be to see Google or Facebook buy it. And also! A big shoutout to Linus for helping to make source control distributed and open, which means swapping between git providers (for the code at least) is simple, easy and impossible to block. The amount of good Linus has done for the world is incredi…

Well yes, Windows 10, finally a practically usable Windows in my opinion. Finally working, with a lot of polish and Dev tools available. (Like wsl)

> practically usable Windows

- forced updates (and forced restarts that go along with that)

- OS level advertisements (even though you are still paying for the OS)

- impossible to configure privacy settings

That alone makes it one of the shittiest OS's ever released.

Re: What is wrong with Microsoft buying GitHub

#142
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see the tradeoff honestly. Sure, make it a little difficult, show a big red scary warning, perhaps even require the use of a screwdriver to discourage "casual" users from being misled into compromising their machine's security. But ultimately true ownership, recyclability/reusability (Linux on aging hardware..), and hardware-independent OS competition are norms with significant benefits that we shouldn't give…

Those may be norms for IT professionals, but the needs of IT professionals are very different from those of standard users. Realistically most people (numerically) don't want a computer, they want a thing that lets them communicate, create and consume content. Lockdown isn't a problem for them, and walled gardens like iOS are generally the best way for them to stay secure. If you provide a method to escape the sandbo…

That's why I'm entirely OK with making it scary and a little difficult.

And it's not just IT professionals, but also their friends and family, especially those that can't afford to or don't want to get a new device that often. I think this is a pretty significant set of people.

Re: What is wrong with Microsoft buying GitHub

#143
post #64

I myself am optimistic but some few questrions popped up: Microsoft is very proactive removing things from azure and shutting down sites as soon as they receive DMCA complaint or abuse complaint. Are they going to remove important github repos like these if they get DMCA or other complaints? https://github.com/Roy47Zhang/CSGO-Aimbot-Project (cheat for Counter strike) https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl (download from v…

What's wrong with this? I don't want unauthorized infringing projects jeopardizing the service the rest of us use legally and ethically. Invalid DMCAs are another story, but what's the harm of respecting an IP owner's valid DMCA request?

it will become a sterile, homogenous environment.

Its the diversity (like the repos mentioned above) that made github the goto code-sharing site.

I, for one, would rather jeaopardize the service to defend the rights of such fringe developers. Together we stand.

Re: What is wrong with Microsoft buying GitHub

#144
post #3

On a slightly tangential note, my company has a massive Yammer install (200k+ account) and I always wonder if people can discuss in yammer group about replacing Office by G Suite, without triggering anything. This is kinda paranoid, but I am still astonished that a company can essentially put all its communications, roadmap, and so on on another company platform. Even if you do not compete frontally, at some point, t…

People move their entire companies knowledge, documents and communication to Office 365 just to save some money. Even government or military institutions do it. I guess it's just how things are nowadays.

Re: What is wrong with Microsoft buying GitHub

#145
post #106

Microsoft is not a company that ever contributed my life as a Linux user and open source contributor for years. In fact, it always made life harder for me. Here is a recent example; because Microsoft made a deal with Lenovo, now new Thinkpads are designed for just Windows. If you're a Linux user, good luck in your new adventure. People say "isn't it like IOS or Android?"; it's not. We had this freedom of using Linux,…

Well, I guess we just have to wait until that deal expires then, before we replace our laptops :)

A Thinkpad lasts for a very long time.

Re: What is wrong with Microsoft buying GitHub

#146
post #106

Microsoft is not a company that ever contributed my life as a Linux user and open source contributor for years. In fact, it always made life harder for me. Here is a recent example; because Microsoft made a deal with Lenovo, now new Thinkpads are designed for just Windows. If you're a Linux user, good luck in your new adventure. People say "isn't it like IOS or Android?"; it's not. We had this freedom of using Linux,…

You know that Microsoft are the largest corporate contributor to open source projects on Github right?

I care about how much they respect freedom instead of how many lines of public code they shared. Technology can be bought or bruteforced, freedom can not.

Re: What is wrong with Microsoft buying GitHub

#147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're the largest corporate contributor to open source projects on GitHub :)

Taht means little to me. Is Facebook excused for their scandals because they open-sourced and maintain React?

It may mean little to you but you asked me what I saw, not what you saw :)

Re: What is wrong with Microsoft buying GitHub

#148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know that Microsoft are the largest corporate contributor to open source projects on Github right?

Microsoft is probably one of the largest contributors to Linux itself.

Not at all, they're not even in the list of the contributors, as you can see on the 4.16 kernel statistics : https://lwn.net/Articles/750054/

The list doesn't vary too much with the versions, so either they're working under the radar as "Unknown", or they barely contribute to the kernel.

Re: What is wrong with Microsoft buying GitHub

#149
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tainted for the past? Did you see what happened with windows 10 or that they are not able to fix skype? To be honest there are screens popping up every day from one stupid mistake after another from ms. They have more dead products in their portfolio than anyone else they embraced change on the xbox to do a 360 afterwards. NO ONE and I mean NO ONE should put any hope into MS doing the right thing or be a reliable par…

So a company that has a bad product launch or problems should be avoided? Would you avoid all google products (and indeed most other tech. companies) on that basis as well? they've had their fair share of things gone wrong, products killed etc. I don't see that as a strong argument against an MS acquisition of GH. Microsoft have had quite a good story in recent times in the developer tools arena (e.g. Code)

> a bad product launch

So are you telling me that windows 10 has stopped forced updates (and the forced restarts that go along with that), stopped all OS-level advertisements, and made it easy to permanently turn off all telemetry on one settings page?

Or is their product still a flaming pile of shit?

Re: What is wrong with Microsoft buying GitHub

#150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know that Microsoft are the largest corporate contributor to open source projects on Github right?

Microsoft is probably one of the largest contributors to Linux itself.

Microsoft contributes a bunch of money to The Linux Foundation now but they really don't contribute very much code. Their main concern seems to be keeping Hyper-V working well so that Linux VMs are performant on Windows server. They don't register as a top code contributor in the last Linux Kernel Development Report: https://storage.pardot.com/6342/188781/Publication_LinuxKern...
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