Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

GitHub Is Microsoft’s $7.5B Undo Button

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

341–350 of 366 posts

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

#341

Post by no-s »

abduhl wrote: post #276
dbingham wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You've got it backwards. They are able to make a living happily doing their craft because there is a portion of the market that values their craft. They didn't choose their craft because they recognized their was a market for it. They chose their craft out of love of the craftsmanship. Arguments like this fundamentally misunderstand human psychology. And this is why the economic model of the "rational man" is fundame…

Lol this post shows an amazing savior complex. These poor altruistic artists just want to work for meagre amounts and no profit but thankfully heroes like you appreciate their craft and are unwilling to let them peddle their wares for anything lower than a healthy profit margin.

Tho sarcastic, I upvoted you because you’re on target.

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

#342

Post by handbanana »

notveryrational wrote: post #91
staticassertion wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I kept reading, waiting for the insidious part. So what you're saying is that Microsoft has a company wide strategic vision to improve its relationship with developers? Did you leave some part out?

Nothing where they are going to gas all the developers or something. Nope. It's more about priorities and intentions. Microsoft doesn't care about the developers. It cares about having the dominant platform. It recognizes that its image makes that difficult. The GitHub acquisition: Microsoft didn't suddenly get more beautiful. It put on a mask. It will kill GitHub - or at least let it flounder - if that's what's best…

> Microsoft doesn't care about the developers. It cares about having the dominant platform.

It'll need to start caring to a degree, and catering to them, in order to achieve this

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

#343

Post by Terr_ »

PhasmaFelis wrote: post #56
Razengan wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> Apple Watch is apparently the best selling watch (not just best selling smartwatch) in the world That's rather "big fish in a small pond" in 2018, though, isn't it? It's like making the best-selling model of recumbent bicycle in the world.

Even worse than that, because it glosses over how the other manufacturers sell a hundred times as much stuff, just categorized out into thousands of different models and trim levels.

Maybe another analogy would be some kind of specialized shoe.

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

#344

Post by WorldMaker »

jenscow wrote: post #201
kitsunesoba wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chrome is absolutely the new IE... it’s just in the heyday stage instead of the “ancient barely supported monster” stage that IE was in when developers began to hate it. The need for greater variety in the spread of popular rendering engines is dire and real. Browser monoculture is dangerous and I refuse to use any browser that’s Chromium/Blink as my daily driver for this reason. I seek alternatives for sites that ob…

I disagree that Chrome it will become stagnated like IE. Microsoft had no desire to improve IE and make the web a more desirable platform than Windows. (I'd suggest it still doesn't) Google, however, directly benefit from the web being a better place, and they know first hand that a dominant browser can be toppled. And the competition is fierce, with MS back to bundling and it's so easy to switch browsers now that th…

> Microsoft had no desire to improve IE

Microsoft was given an ultimatum by the US Department of Justice to stop improving IE, because at the time people thought browsers and the web shouldn't be a part of an OS base install.

Microsoft started what Electron/Cordova/PWAs are continuing today, where the web is a first class application platform in nearly every OS, and nearly every OS needs to bundle a web browser as core functionality.

> Google, however, directly benefit from the web being a better place

…to serve ads. As long as the web remains the most universal platform for ad serving, Google's interests follow.

> now that there's (currently) a good compliance of standards and no such things as ActiveX

Let's not forget how recently Google tried to make NaCL, its own play at an ActiveX-like thing.

It's only recently we've "killed" Flash, and Oracle and others are still holding a lot of Enterprises hostage to Java applets.

Mozilla may be the only group without sin here, and they live in a glass house, to mix metaphors.

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

#345

Post by e12e »

sleepychu wrote: post #222
amelius wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then I'm curious what kind of data would be shared on the federated protocol. Why can't projects be independent?

I think primarily identity and git locations. I want stuff like the issue tracker/merge request dialog to be consistent across the federation (and of course for projects elsewhere in the network to be able to be the source for those merge requests) I don't want an account on everybody's git{lab,hub,ea,xxx} instance I want a single identity that people can trust is me. I want a way to discover and index other projects…

> I think primarily identity and git locations.

Accounts/authorization is already semi-federated through oauth etc. You can sign in to gitlab.com using your github.com account.

We still have only one kind of namespacing and for users and projects: domains, leveraged by Java (and go, others?) for packages, and email for identity.

Discoverability is really a matter of indexes and catalogs; npm, pypi, Google and duckduckgo.

Delegating login is actually useful for self-hosted vcs/issue trackers: not as low friction as just sending an email with a patch; but it's easier to be able to "sign in" with an existing account, add an issue/code - and get notifications via email - rather than having to manage an account for every program you use and find bugs in...

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

#346

Post by AnimalMuppet »

fjsolwmv wrote: post #328
ysavir wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think GP's point is that the nature of MicroSoft, as a platform, isn't lined up with your interests. They aren't looking to be developer friendly--that is, present you, as a developer more and better options. Since MicroSoft is a _platform_, their interest is to _limit_ your options to MicroSoft so that you aren't developing and enriching competing platforms. GP, if I am understanding correctly, is implying that th…

This is getting tinfoil hattery. Microsoft sells a platform. The success of that platform is based on convincing users and their agents to buy the platform. The platform is appealing because developers make money by creating apps or it. Has Microsoft done awful and possibly illegal things to competitors? Of course. But they've been the best for developers. Best dev tools, most powerful and widely deployed OS, at leas…

Historically, Microsoft made a good platform. People wanted to use it. Then Microsoft consistently, over a period of years, in several different directions, tried to use the fact that people used Microsoft's platform to make it harder for people to use other platforms or products.

That's not tinfoil hat stuff. It's historical fact, and I was around when it happened. They tried to, in their term, "leverage" their OS dominance. But on the receiving end of that leverage, it feels like being forced.

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

#347

Post by gaius »

jacksmith21006 wrote: post #317
TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FOSS will interpret Microsoft as damage and route around it. GitHub is going to turn into the FOSS version of the MySpace wasteland. I'm sure GitLab and other alternatives are seeing a stampede of new sign-ups right now. The question isn't really what MS will do, because - as is often the case - it won't matter. MS bought Nokia Phone, trashed the company, flailed around dramatically for a while, and in the end nothin…

Looks like a pretty strong exit from GitHub to GitLab. Just hope most go to a common place which appears it will be GitLab.

Just hope most go to a common place which appears it will be GitLab

You know that Gitlab is also VC backed, right? They have to exit in the same way as Github did. It’s baked into their DNA. The only question now is who buys them. What will you do if that’s Oracle?

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

#348

Post by rkeene2 »

cabalamat wrote: post #294
mdpopescu wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Microsoft doesn't care about the developers. It cares about having the dominant platform. "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest." (Adam Smith.) I don't trust benevolent people. I trust self-interest. I don't need to offer my undying allegiance to Microsoft - I can like them as long as they do things that benefi…

The butcher, the brewer and the baker have no ability to alter my biochemistry so I can't consumer other people's meat, beer and bread. So I am unafraid that they will harm me with vendor lock-in. Microsoft, on the other hand...

> The butcher, the brewer and the baker have no ability to alter my biochemistry so I can't consumer other people's meat, beer and bread.

Yet. :-)

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

#349

Post by ryandrake »

dbingham wrote: post #240
mdpopescu wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Microsoft doesn't care about the developers. It cares about having the dominant platform. "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest." (Adam Smith.) I don't trust benevolent people. I trust self-interest. I don't need to offer my undying allegiance to Microsoft - I can like them as long as they do things that benefi…

I don't trust self interest. Especially not in my butcher, brewer, or baker. Pure self interest gets you McDonalds, Bud Light, and Debi cakes. I consume exactly none of those things and have no desire to consume any of those things. They taste terrible, are bad for me, and the companies themselves are generally bad for their communities and the world. A good butcher, brewer, or baker is driven by craft first - care f…

I’d argue your craft beer, artisanal cheese, and hand-made distressed-wood furniture are all made out of self interest. You’ve simply chosen to believe the marketing positioning statements delivered by their million-dollar companies: that they operate out of some passion for a craft rather than increasing shareholder value.

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

#350

Post by oblio »

kevin_b_er wrote: post #323
oblio wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Redhat? Company that is currently infiltrating every Linux distro with systemd bloatware? No, thanks. Perspective is everything. For me it's: > Redhat? The company that managed to standardize the init system across distributions, thereby making it trivial to create robust system services for Linux?

It is not the init system replacement. It is the cruft around it, like systemd-resolved. Please avoid motte and bailey arguments.

Today I Learned motte and bailey.

And why is the rest cruft? Are the extras technically inferior? Can they be compiled out if you wish?

Post reply on HN