Microsoft and GitHub have held acquisition talks

Post by matteeyah » Sun, Jun 03, 2018, 11:30 PM UTC

jaredklewis wrote: post #453

yani wrote: post #439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GitHub clearly needs change of management. I havent seen much inmovation from them compared to GitLab. Microsoft is very strong on innovation since change of management.

GitHub is easy to use, and I’ve found the important features work really well. I’m all for improvements, but I’m not even sure what I would want. At this point, I’m more worried any attempt at innovation would break the things I like about GitHub now, than I am excited for something new. I use gitlab for all my private projects and don’t find it to be remarkably better in any way, and the UI always confuses me.

Post by ms013 » Mon, Jun 04, 2018, 4:58 AM UTC

michaelmrose wrote: post #517

ms013 wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I lived through the 90s too. It's been 20+ years since the peak of the Microsoft that gave them the reputation you're reflecting. If "I lived through the 90s" was how I measured technology and companies, I'd sure as hell not be using Apple products - their technology was pretty terrible then, and the company was incoherent. Would any rational person say that the terrible tech and incoherence then translates to how on…

First off were the 90s macs really terrible in comparison to the present state of the art at the time? Second its easier for people to grow to be better at their job than to grow into being better people.

Post by youdontknowtho » Mon, Jun 04, 2018, 10:57 AM UTC

forgottenpass wrote: post #30

youdontknowtho wrote: post #8

That would be kind of awesome, but I don't know how the github culture would meld with a big corporation. It would be an interesting case study for other similar start ups.

Didn't github already deliberately kill their own culture a few years back with policy changes and a layer of middle management? edit: This isn't snark. Didn't they legit cut a bunch of perks, refocus everyone's priorities, and hire some people to start cracking whips? Or was I reading the public accounts of that situation wrong? Got bad scuttlebutt?

Post by youdontknowtho » Mon, Jun 04, 2018, 11:06 AM UTC

gurkendoktor wrote: post #472

bad_user wrote: post #436

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is Microsoft different exactly? Do they not engage in patents racketeering? Do they not spy on users of Windows 10? > like most (all?) other big tech companies "The other children are doing it" and then you're mother would say "that doesn't make it right". It's a child's defense no doubt. But anyway, it's also factually not true.

I'd say that Microsoft is worse than most other companies because it caters to governments, not consumers. Skype and MSN mysteriously worked in China at a time when no other service did. What's their incentive to push back against LE backdoors when they're not an edgy consumer brand anyway?

Post by WorldMaker » Mon, Jun 04, 2018, 3:35 PM UTC

parvenu74 wrote: post #49

WorldMaker wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With current trends in Microsoft's Developer Division, it's possible that GitHub could end up way more open if Microsoft acquired them. GitHub's core business is GitHub and they need that to stay closed to stay competitive. GitHub under Microsoft could have less financial pressure to keep closed. Is it likely? I don't know. It is an interesting possibility though, that would certainly change the game.

There is precedent. Prior to Microsoft acquiring them, Xamarin was closed-source and licensing was $1000 per platform per year. At the Build conference in March 2016 Microsoft announced (1) that they were acquiring Xamarin, (2) that pricing would be dropping to zero, and (3) the Xamarin platform code would be open sourced as soon as possible after the acquisition.