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What is wrong with Microsoft buying GitHub

jacquesmattheij.com

181–190 of 228 posts

Re: What is wrong with Microsoft buying GitHub

#181
post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, are you saying that both Lenovo (that say in manual for x280 that in select countries it ships with Ubuntu) and Ubuntu (That here https://certification.ubuntu.com/hardware/201801-26057/ claim "certified pre-install for Ubuntu.") are lying? If you are using Linux you are using Linux kernel that is managed by git. Microsoft contributes to git.

> Linux kernel that is managed by git. Microsoft contributes to git This is a little misleading. MS does not contribute to git for Linux development. Instead, they only provide windows specific patches (AFAICT, would like to be proven wrong). Their GVfs [0] is windows only, and they maintain a fork of Git with "microsoft specific patches" [1]. [0] - https://github.com/Microsoft/GVFS [1] - https://github.com/Microsoft…

Microsoft had a "look at what we did for git last year" post in january, most of that seems OS-independent performance work: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/devops/2018/01/11/microsoft...

Re: What is wrong with Microsoft buying GitHub

#182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was pushed down the throat of customers, using dark patterns and “better ask forgiveness than permission” ethics. It also took away choice from the vast majority of users, and started sending opaque and vaguely described telemetry. The problem with Microsoft wasn’t that their software sucks (some does, some is great). It is that they have been bullying users and companies for the past 30 years. Many people point t…

Yea, the telemetry one was kind of shady at the beginning, when it got turned on again after every update. That's changed a while ago though, and you can actually look through all the telemetry you're sending.

And you still cannot properly turn it off. Weird and invasive things still happen with large updates (bundled so you cannot pick and choose which changes are appropriate for you, such as security fixes only). The whole OS is a few quality of life changes that make it palatable to most people to deal with all of their frankly offensively invasive practices.

Re: What is wrong with Microsoft buying GitHub

#183
post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Linux kernel that is managed by git. Microsoft contributes to git This is a little misleading. MS does not contribute to git for Linux development. Instead, they only provide windows specific patches (AFAICT, would like to be proven wrong). Their GVfs [0] is windows only, and they maintain a fork of Git with "microsoft specific patches" [1]. [0] - https://github.com/Microsoft/GVFS [1] - https://github.com/Microsoft…

Microsoft had a "look at what we did for git last year" post in january, most of that seems OS-independent performance work: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/devops/2018/01/11/microsoft...

Yes some of that work also improves Git on other systems.

All of those patches however were a pure necessity for them to implement GVfs.

Re: What is wrong with Microsoft buying GitHub

#184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd be surprised. Case in point is my current main client, a huge national broadcasting company which is using Jira and Confluence for everything on one hand, but is just setting up a GitHub private instance on the other.

I'm indeed surprised and I'm sure there are other cases like this out there, it would be interesting to know the thinking behind it. In my experience of working with big corps, if you are using Jira and Confluence, Bitbucket simply offers much better integration with them and lately Atlassian is rocking it with new features and deeper integration every time.

You are absolutely right from the technical perspective, but I guess these decisions are based on buzzword matching rather than any sound technical design.

Re: What is wrong with Microsoft buying GitHub

#185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So are you not ok with the concept that some people don't need that option and, as long as the vendor is clear about what is and isn't possible, having some devices that are more locked down that others is acceptable?

If I knew that to be the end-game and if I knew it to be an informed choice on the part of consumers, yes, I'd be OK with that. My two reservations: 1. I think such a lockdown is a kind of hidden anti-competitive "dark pattern" that benefits the seller much more than it benefits the consumer by significantly lowering the the reuse/resale value of the device. One could argue it makes the device cheaper to begin with,…

I see a benefit to lockdown, which is improved safety/security for non-technical end users.

Security is a difficult topic, even for IT professionals, and it is easier to secure a locked down environment for non-technical users than an open one.

If you look at mobile platforms as an example, the prevalence of malware on Android compared to iOS is significant.

Now for many I'm sure that trade-off is worth it, but I also feel there is a place for more controlled environments.

Re: What is wrong with Microsoft buying GitHub

#186
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the shenanigans I've seen recently from MS employees in the .NET Core and JS space Do you have links? I Havent heard MS doing anything malicious recently in these spaces.

I guess the non compliance to GDPR by using opt-out instead of opt-in for their telemetry in .netcore and vscode.

As I understand it the information isn't PI and so isn't covered by GDPR.

Re: What is wrong with Microsoft buying GitHub

#187
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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)

I don't buy the usability argument of WSL. The thing isn't anywhere near a useful Linux environment other than for some noddy stuff that cygwin can already handle. Try running a background process, a service, use a serial port or drag some half decent performance out of it and you'll see. It is ultimately backed with NTFS and NT's buffer cache. Running a VM is still several orders of magnitude more productive. And yo…

Serial ports work fine with my Arduinos. I regularly flash stuff using ESP tools from WSL.

Re: What is wrong with Microsoft buying GitHub

#188
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean like Android or iOS?

Like iOS yes, and some, but not all, Android manufacturers/phones. "Others do it too" is not a very good justification in my mind.

"Others do it too" is not a good justification of course. But his comment also fails to to explain how Microsoft is somehow more evil than the industry standard.

Re: What is wrong with Microsoft buying GitHub

#189
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,…

> because Microsoft made a deal with Lenovo, now new Thinkpads are designed for just Windows As a Linux on ThinkPad user, I'd be very interested to learn more about this.

fingerprint reader doesn't have drivers available, even blobs

Re: What is wrong with Microsoft buying GitHub

#190
Microsoft is on the good direction today (comparing to what it was).

But problem is when management changes. after all their values are different. All classic big corporate stuff, their business model and expectations from investors. things can change in the future when making money is the main goal..

But the good thing is that GIT is easy to migrate. So we can migrate anytime that things goes wrong..

Github is still a great product/service. Hope they don't ruin it.

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