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Microsoft acquires Github

blogs.microsoft.com

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Re: Microsoft acquires Github

#541
post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

MS claimed APIs are copyrightable. MS strongly pushes lock-in in markets where they have strong presence. It shows they haven't changed enough to trust them with anything.

> MS claimed APIs are copyrightable. When was that? Oracle famously has, but I haven't read Microsoft's version of the same.

At the same time as Oracle. See https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-teaming-up-with-orac...

So MS contributed to the abysmal court decision.

Re: Microsoft acquires Github

#543

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Haven't they spied on Windows 10 users? How is it spying when they present you with a full screen detailing data collection with the option to turn it off, and have several blog posts providing details. > Do they not engage in patents racketeering? It's not much of an excuse, but all tech companies do this. > Haven't they killed Nokia and ruined Skype? Didn't they give Windows Mobile one hell of a run? Like they tr…

>> And Skype, I don't know. I use it in a daily basis. It doesn't seem to be that bad. Likewise. I know they neglected the Linux client (which I used to use) for years and then replaced it with some new browser based thing. This 'ruined Skype' claim has been made several times with each Microsoft buys GitHub story. What exactly do people have in mind when they claim Skype was ruined?

The facts that I see:

The new UI is absolutely counterintuitive and badly designed. The Linux version is now based on Electron and requires a ridiculous 400MB of RAM just for the login screen. It subjects the CPU to ridiculously high loads, ca. 10 times higher than before when idling (easily saturating one core periodically). It starts to jerk and studder when the chatlog reaches any realistic length, making it unusable with more than 200 to 500 messages in the visible history. The Windows 10 client, which seems mostly identical, cannot get audio from any of my microphones.

Re: Microsoft acquires Github

#544

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You actually can’t turn it off, and they still refuse to publish the complete list of what is collected. You need an enterprise version to disable as much as they will let you, and even then, they still force quite a bit of collection.

>> they still refuse to publish the complete list of what is collected Seems like refusing to disclose what is collected would run afoul of GDPR. The law requires that "categories of personal data" be disclosed, and also that Microsoft's European customers have a right to a copy of their personal data. Are you claiming that Microsoft is not or does not intend to comply with GDPR? Or perhaps there is some other qualif…

Or there's no PII in the collected data.

Re: Microsoft acquires Github

#546

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because their developer tools are pretty good and finding jobs as a .NET developer is pretty easy?

That doesn't make them an ethical company. Oracle makes a pretty good database. Google makes a good search engine. All of those companies have serious ethical issues and I would not want any of them as the steward of the largest body of open source code on the planet. A federated or independent solution is the only way to go for infrastructure like this.

I think you replied to the wrong thread? I replied to a poster who didn't understand why some people were fans of Microsoft.

Re: Microsoft acquires Github

#547

People 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…

> Haven't they spied on Windows 10 users? How is it spying when they present you with a full screen detailing data collection with the option to turn it off, and have several blog posts providing details. > Do they not engage in patents racketeering? It's not much of an excuse, but all tech companies do this. > Haven't they killed Nokia and ruined Skype? Didn't they give Windows Mobile one hell of a run? Like they tr…

Telemetry and analytics is a spyware. Let me give you an example. Let's say that Windows collects information on which applications were run and how much time they were used. Now let's say there is a competitor to Microsoft that uses Windows with telemetry option.

Even if the data is anonymous, Microsoft can filter it by range of competitor's IP addresses. Then by stuyding the list of used applications they can learn: how many employees the company has, how many of them use IDE (i.e. are developers), how many use Excel (marketing people), how many use social networks and chats (managers), how many man-hours they spend on development, how many DBAs are there, whether anyone works overnight or on weekends, when they have vacations etc. Now tell me it is not a spyware.

And by the way Google has similar powers because they have advertisement and analytics scripts installed on most websites, so they can spy on their competitors too.

UPD: looked through an article [1] and understood that I underestimated Microsoft. They even collect user account identifiers and hardware details. Microsoft knows about your computers more than your sysadmin.

[1] https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/configuration/windo...

Re: Microsoft acquires Github

#548

Earlier quoted context omitted.

* Drop Windows and contribute to WINE * Drop OOXML and make ODF the default format * Drop the patents * Drop the telemetry * Drop Xbox * Drop DirectX * Drop the cloud garbage * Drop or open MSVC * Drop or open Edge * Actually open .NET

> * Actually open .NET We don't need to open the .NET Framework... We have .NET Core. It's better, faster, and cross-platform...

But it's not a drop-in replacement, and it doesn't have any of the GUI bits.

Re: Microsoft acquires Github

#549

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Apparently people didn't like having fully locked down computers and they discontinued the product, shocker. They do, it just can't pretend to be a full on computer, see the iPad.

It doesn't have to pretend, it is a full computer that is intentionally crippled by the vendor. Apple doing it to doesn't make it any less despicable. These stupid strategies turn perfectly good computers into landfill.

"Despicable" is pretty questionable. I still use my six-year-old iPad almost daily. That's certainly a longer lifespan than I've ever gotten out of any PC or a Mac, and the reason is probably because it isn't a full-fledged computer.

Once I'm finally tired of its now anemic performance and replace it, I can probably plug it in and use it as an SSH viewer for journalctl or something, so it can still be of some use.

Re: Microsoft acquires Github

#550
post #431

People 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…

>Haven't they spied on Windows 10 users? Literally every for-profit desktop OS vendor has "spied on users" by the definition you're trying to use. Including OSX and Ubuntu. >Do they not engage in patents racketeering? So Google boxes Microsoft out of the phone market by refusing to support any of their services on Windows Phone. And Microsoft is the bad guy for leveraging their patents against vendors selling Android…

I didn't know patent racketeering was a fair response to not supporting an OS with a worldwide marketshare of less than 2%.
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