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Hello, GitHub

natfriedman.github.io

311–320 of 671 posts

Re: Hello, GitHub

#311

> GitHub will operate independently as a community, platform, and business. Had Github been bought by an foundation operating outside the confides of the market, then such statement would have been believable. Microsoft will naturally use Github maximise its wealth, thus when disagreements arise then Microsoft will put its will through. It is of course easy to imagine ways Github could be used by Microsoft, fore inst…

I work for Linkedin, MS is very respectful of our independence (sometimes in puzzling ways).

It's kinda painful and annoying to read about all the negativity and tinfoil hat theories but that's the price to pay (I guess) and we'll see what happens. Microsoft has every interest in playing nice with the community and everything to lose from trying to do anything hostile to it.

Re: Hello, GitHub

#312
post #304
post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not entirely true. Microsoft puts (almost? Yet to find anything that isn't) all our code on VSTS which is accessible remotely, without VPN. I've checked in a (very very minor docs) fix to the Windows code base from my Android phone over LTE.

That's amazing. Contrast that to my friend who works on code at Apple that's so guarded that he can't even access it from Apple HQ. He has to travel to his office in an unmarked Apple bldg several miles from HQ (in an unmarked van) and access the code from inside the bldg. Any attempt to work on his code outside that bldg, on the Apple employee shuttle for example, will result in immediate firing with possible crimin…

This has to be something very mission critical like phone encryption. No way this is the norm even at Apple.

Re: Hello, GitHub

#313

What does M$ bring to the table other than a giant pile of money? How does this giant pile of money serve the users of github?

Other than being the biggest developer-focused company in the world? Having an extremely complete set of developer tools that can integrate with github? A cloud computing service to deploy apps?

I guess nothing, it brings nothing to the table.

Re: Hello, GitHub

#314
post #63

I'm split on this one. I lived through Microsoft's dark ages, when the victory of open source was still hanging by a thread. The reason we're seeing a softer Microsoft is that they lost, they were forced to change. And the open question is what they learned in the process. On the other hand, they're producing pretty decent software these days; dotNet Core, TypeScript & VSCode just to name a few solid projects. Open s…

>I think I'm going to leave my code in there for now and give them a chance to redeem themselves. Why would you do that? I mean, at least import the code to other repos

Do you think they are going to just delete it?

Re: Hello, GitHub

#315
post #7

I’m going to be a bit contrarian to “the sky is falling” posts on HN and say: I think Microsoft is handling this really well. 1) They’ve acknowledged the skepticism around the acquisition. 2) They’ve expressed their commitment to keep GitHub an independent platform (like they did with LinkedIn.) 3) Nat Friedman, although I was not familiar with him prior to this, seems like an ideal candidate to run GitHub. This, ove…

> I think Microsoft is handling this really well.

What is baffling for me, is how worried some people seem to be. If you understand the Git hosting space, you would know Microsoft tried to compete with GitHub and failed miserably.

It is quite clear the value that GitHub provides is data and there is ABSOLUTELY no way Microsoft would want to disturb this. In fact, Bitbucket, GitLab and others should be concerned that Microsoft might treat GitHub as a loss leader and provide private repos for free.

Re: Hello, GitHub

#316
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really can't think of a better large tech company to buy GitHub (Which has been closed sourced since creation and I don't know why people are so scared). Now Oracle would make me put on my tin foil hat on immediately and deleting of my account.

Because people with closed source, the paying customers, now have to trust their potential biggest competitor with their source code ‽

Are you suggesting MSFT is going to _steal people's code_ from private github repositories? This strikes me as a bit fantastical.

What software hosting platform is not also itself a software company? Atlassian, Gitlab...?

Re: Hello, GitHub

#317
post #7

I’m going to be a bit contrarian to “the sky is falling” posts on HN and say: I think Microsoft is handling this really well. 1) They’ve acknowledged the skepticism around the acquisition. 2) They’ve expressed their commitment to keep GitHub an independent platform (like they did with LinkedIn.) 3) Nat Friedman, although I was not familiar with him prior to this, seems like an ideal candidate to run GitHub. This, ove…

I agree, my biggest concerns are: 1. What is happening to Atom? I have tried VS code and don't really like it due to the difference in how the 2 systems are designed to work (Atom being more "plugins are king", VSCode being more "kitchen sink included by first-party"). I'd hate to see my favorite editor lose it's major backing. If MS makes a commitment to continue to develop Atom, or they work with someone else to "t…

My biggest concern is that the FBI has turned Microsoft into a "one-stop shop" for its National Security Letters, which at one point represented 40 percent of all the requests Microsoft got from the FBI.

How will Microsoft/GitHub handle such secret requests? Will Microsoft even sue the DoJ to stop it - or will they settle again the moment they obtain a small compromise from the government?

Re: Hello, GitHub

#318
post #154

Anybody else think that StackOverflow would be Microsoft's next purchase? A profitable, developer focussed business built using Microsoft stack. I don't know how much sense it makes for Microsoft to be making money through selling job ads, but if they're gonna take over all the tools that developers use then SO and the SE network seems a good fit.

I'm not sure it would make sense. While it's built on the MS stack, it's a somewhat toxic community with no clear business value. Even as a Q&A site has too much history and too much baggage.

Re: Hello, GitHub

#319
post #183

> PS: I’ll be doing an AMA on Reddit in the next few days, I hope to see you there! It's a bit of shame that that's the location of choice for hosting an AMA. The AMA subreddit is good, but it's trapped in the toxic cesspool that is Reddit overall.

That depends on what subs your subscribed to, or filter from /r/all, there's a lot of positive, creative stuff on Reddit. Here's my filtered list from /r/all (most of the awful crap is USA politics, and all the anti-Trump subreddits, at least the pro-Trump people stick to the one sub): https://gist.github.com/ryan-allen/18e0e0ccbe34e81b7a0b96d11...

Re: Hello, GitHub

#320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, but they are not 40 years old interviewing and writing blogposts now. anyway, it's a lame thing to say, as nobody cares when you started "coding". what do you want to achieve by saying that phrase?

Huh? There were computers with built-in BASIC around 40 years ago, like Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, TRS-80, and more, I'm sure. There were magazines with program listings you could type in. Or do you think that labeling kids noodling around with BASIC as "developers" is too tongue-in-cheek?

You must be trolling or an idiot. When did I say that there weren't any computers 40 years ago? I just said that a lot of programmers brag about coding since they were X years old. They're trying to prove something. The amount of times I heard it makes me think that coding in the 80s was more popular than football.
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