"Linux is a Cancer" - Some Microsoft CEO
"Hello Gitlab" - Some Git user.
Microsoft acquires Github
251–260 of 840 posts
Re: Microsoft acquires Github
#252Earlier quoted context omitted.
So which company would you rather buy Github? GitHub wasn't profitable. Would you rather it just disappear?
> So which company would you rather buy Github? None. It could be run as a public utility or it could be turned into something federated to absorb the bulk of the hosting costs.
> run as a public utility or it could be turned into something federated
hardly worth it for the investors who want to see a 10x or even 100x ROI for their initial private funding rounds.
Public utility should be started using public funds, for the public good. Private companies can never become this.
Re: Microsoft acquires Github
#253Earlier quoted context omitted.
So which company would you rather buy Github? GitHub wasn't profitable. Would you rather it just disappear?
> So which company would you rather buy Github? None. It could be run as a public utility or it could be turned into something federated to absorb the bulk of the hosting costs.
Only on HN / in San Francisco would the federal government (if I understand you correctly) be preferable to a technology company which has been a key player in the PC and internet marketplace for decades. I’m not trying to lionize M$, but come on - a Public Utility? As if the government doesn’t already burn enough cash....
Re: Microsoft acquires Github
#254Friendly reminder: this is the same Microsoft that "empowered" skype and once called open source a cancer. Its the same Microsoft that ruined open document standards and started the browser wars. I wouldnt be surprised to see next years release of "Github Pro Platinum with Minecraft 3D and Windows Store integration" For those looking to move, https://gitlab.com is an excellent open source alternative that can easily…
I just finished moving all my 20+ repos over from github and deleted all of my github accounts. Feels good actually. I'm glad to see gitlab getting good attention. I bet all of the people behind gitlab are feeling pumped/anxious/excited right now! ^_^
I hope you are right and I hope Gitlab folks are happy. But also note that it just became easier in many big corporations to sell Github to senior management, because you know, "nobody got fired for choosing Microsoft"
Re: Microsoft acquires Github
#255People keep mentioning how "Microsoft changed" due to VS Code, the Linux subsystem, .NET Core. I say that they are the same company, only with different cash cows. Haven't they spied on Windows 10 users? Do they not engage in patents racketeering? Haven't they killed Nokia and ruined Skype? " But Mom, some of the other companies are doing it too ", well yeah, but some of us don't have double standards, in spite of wh…
Their license for the .NET Core debugger makes it so that only they can use it, JetBrains and others cannot, see [1], they haven't changed at all. 1 - https://blog.jetbrains.com/dotnet/2017/02/15/rider-eap-17-nu...
My understanding is that the debugger is an adapted version of the closed source Visual Studio debugger. Visual Studio isn't open source, and is a paid for product.
It takes time to break things out from inside a larger closed source project...
Re: Microsoft acquires Github
#256Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yep, I really dont understand why there are Microsoft fans. Like I understand if you bought an Xbox, but I dont understand if you are a programmer. Microsoft has always been a headache. Recently its been a tiny bit better, but they still are a for-profit company that needs to continue to make a profit. This was to make Microsoft money, nothing to 'help programmers'.
> This was to make Microsoft money, nothing to 'help programmers'. This is not mutually exclusive. You need money to keep lights and servers ON
As with every other big corporation, including Apple, Google etc. the problem isn't making money, which is perfectly legit and fine, the problem is the "western" economy system which requires, or even encourages, any rogue behavior aimed at maximizing profits at any cost.
A company expecting returns for its investment is a thing, but one who buys startups only to destroy them to stop the development of competing products, or engage in legal battles to eliminate competition, is a totally different thing.
Most of us criticize the latter, not the former. Unfortunately there's no legal way to prevent a corporation to become a creature turning anything including its integrity into profits, because being an ass in this context brings money and money buys favorable laws.
Re: Microsoft acquires Github
#257Wonder what this will mean for other organisations and their open source projects? For example, Google has quite a few (e.g. golang, kubernetes etc)
those are open source
Re: Microsoft acquires Github
#258Earlier quoted context omitted.
It doesn't have to be astroturfing. Repeatedly exposing HN readers to the same news would be a good way to gradually increase positive opinion until a desirable threshold is reached ("the first positive top comment").
You'll have to walk me through your logic on that again. How is repeated exposure more likely to increase positive opinion?
Suppose it isn't more likely, that it is just random. All Microsoft has to do is pick the one article that has a positive opinion at the top and promote that one.
Re: Microsoft acquires Github
#259I've always maintained that Open Source is less an ideological movement opposed to capitalism than it is a different sort of contract for capitalist interactions.
Of course, it was inevitable that in order to survive Microsoft would adapt its business to utilize the kinds of interactions fostered by open source.
Acquiring Github represents the first attempt by Microsoft to own some of the culture of open source.
Microsoft is still very far behind in several key ways that the Github acquisition won't fix. But the acquisition signals a willingness to move in that direction. Some of these are:
- The "Microsoft account" is a hugely complicated mess, far more complex and unwieldy than a google account. This is a serious miss and it's not rocket science. Look at the places where users are having to reset passwords all the time, getting failed logins, incomplete profiles, etc. Those are major warts that should not exist.
- Microsoft should push hard for adoption of PowerShell on unix/linux, and if it fails at that task it should adopt bash as the main shell for Windows, sunsetting cmd.exe and PowerShell.
- Microsoft should figure out a way to provide integrated X Server (and next generation variants of X) support in Windows. There is a big opportunity to one-up OSX by doing this in an open way.
- Microsoft should offer all of the "pro" and "enterprise" features of Visual Studio free to all developers and should provide high quality command line based tooling to allow for seamless integration with other open source development tools.
- Microsoft should simplify and fix code signing and make available (for free) all tools and utilities and infrastructure for trusted software distribution across multiple platforms.
- Microsoft should make firm committments with respect to any APIs or Azure services in terms of life cycle, EOL committments, etc. This would be a big differentiator with Google.
- Microsoft should fully open source some of its products that are duds, such as outlook for ios, and let the community make them awesome.
Re: Microsoft acquires Github
#260Earlier quoted context omitted.
> So which company would you rather buy Github? None. It could be run as a public utility or it could be turned into something federated to absorb the bulk of the hosting costs.
Only on HN / in San Francisco would the federal government (if I understand you correctly) be preferable to a technology company which has been a key player in the PC and internet marketplace for decades. I’m not trying to lionize M$, but come on - a Public Utility? As if the government doesn’t already burn enough cash....
> if I understand you correctly
You don't.
We are the public. If GitHub did an annual funding drive a-la wikipedia it would definitely keep them afloat.
A-propos, would you be OK with Microsoft buying Wikipedia?
Archive.org?