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GitHub Is Microsoft’s $7.5B Undo Button

bloomberg.com

11–20 of 366 posts

Re: GitHub Is Microsoft’s $7.5B Undo Button

#13
post #2

> The WWDC, sacred nerd summit of Appledom, is where they announce things like a new “night mode” for the operating system and try to convince programmers that Apple Watch matters. Bloomberg got an honest laugh out of me.

I don't see why this is relevant for this article, though…

The whole article is tongue-in-cheek. It's relevant mostly because it's funny and partially because it provides context. Also, later in the same paragraph:

> For Microsoft to trot this out during WWDC is a real thunder-stealer. It’s nice to see global-platform capitalism played with a little verve.

Re: GitHub Is Microsoft’s $7.5B Undo Button

#14
post #3

Sent this to all of my non-techie friends who asked wtf GitHub was and how it was worth $7.5b. Great read.

And when they still didn’t “get it”?

It’s a great read (and good for a few laughs) for “nerds”, sure, but it still doesn’t explain to non-techies what Github is (besides “some thing that programmers use instead of e-mail”) — or, more importantly, why it’s worth $7.5B.

Re: GitHub Is Microsoft’s $7.5B Undo Button

#15
post #2

> The WWDC, sacred nerd summit of Appledom, is where they announce things like a new “night mode” for the operating system and try to convince programmers that Apple Watch matters. Bloomberg got an honest laugh out of me.

Apple Watch is apparently the best selling watch (not just best selling smartwatch) in the world [0], with millions of users, and many copycats. Why shouldn’t it matter?

Of course, there’s only so much you can do and make on such a small screen, and it is an accessory rather than a “primary” device, but that is another issue altogether, if one.

I think it may even function as a motion control input for the rumored VR headset they’re planning.

And is anyone seriously trying to pass off Dark Mode as a MINOR feature? It can be a significant productivity and wellness boost for many people who have to look at a screen all day. Microsoft has struggled for decades to achieve universal consistency across their OS even for a single system theme, and they still haven’t gotten it right, whereas Apple is already doing seamless switching of UI appearances across many apps (this is more than just changing the colors; I’m currently watching their WWDC session about it, and the amount of thought they’ve put into it and how easy they’ve made it to implement is impressive imo.)

[0] http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-outsold-the-entire-swis...

Re: GitHub Is Microsoft’s $7.5B Undo Button

#16
Since the announcement, I’ve been trying to figure out what the most evil uses of “telemetry” that could be incorporated into Github in order to invade user’s privacy are.

I’ve had a few (small) ideas but I’m confident that Microsoft already has people much more evil^W^Wsmarter than me working on this very problem (if it wasn’t already figured out beforehand).

Re: GitHub Is Microsoft’s $7.5B Undo Button

#17
I'm listening to the audiobook version of Nadella's Hit Refresh these days. It does sound like he had thought through the open source strategy from very early on. There he says something to the effect that Microsoft had so many things in-house that were better than what some other companies were publicly showcasing, but they were hiding them away for some reason.

Re: GitHub Is Microsoft’s $7.5B Undo Button

#18
I can't figure out why everyone seeks to imbue so much meaning to the GitHub acquisition. Is it not sufficient to suggest that GitHub was looking for a buyer, and Microsoft took a calculated risk and offered more for them than one of their star competitors, and perennial sweetheart of developers, Google?

Microsoft is trying to ensure they retain relevance in a world where Google has successfully shaken their dominance, and having a service that's effectively become a commonly used piece of web infrastructure be under their umbrella as opposed to Google's (or Salesforce's, or Oracle's, or Dell EMC's) is an obvious win for them.

Re: GitHub Is Microsoft’s $7.5B Undo Button

#19
post #2

> The WWDC, sacred nerd summit of Appledom, is where they announce things like a new “night mode” for the operating system and try to convince programmers that Apple Watch matters. Bloomberg got an honest laugh out of me.

Apple Watch is apparently the best selling watch (not just best selling smartwatch) in the world [0], with millions of users, and many copycats. Why shouldn’t it matter? Of course, there’s only so much you can do and make on such a small screen, and it is an accessory rather than a “primary” device, but that is another issue altogether, if one. I think it may even function as a motion control input for the rumored VR…

It matters for Apple, for developers? not so much. Millions of users and not a single third party "killer" app.
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