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Thank you, GitHub

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Re: Thank you, GitHub

#81
post #11

If I read another piece of American corporate crap --- plastic, formulaic, always-be-selling --- I'm gonna throw up on my keyboard. The write-up is rife with stock phrases, and vapid emotionalism. Somewhere when the rest of us are busy there's a room somewhere where people get the cheat-sheet, fill-in-the-blank training that produces this junk. Look the guy probably had some success and met some great people. So why…

Hear, hear. As I live longer, I realize some people take to corporate speak and corporate values like ducks to water. It's actually their preferred mode of communication and existence. Politicians play this game most clearly - they need to communicate allegiance to the rich, their political party and 'the people', which is an impossible ask (because the parties are not aligned and you please one by taking away from t…

If we only could have honest tribal liars as Zoons have.

Re: Thank you, GitHub

#82

If person's legacy is a list of all the good things (or bad things) they've done during their time, Nat's legacy as the CEO of GitHub can also be summed into a list. Let me get started...I only remember this one thing but other users of HN can help add more I supposed: - That one time when Nat spoke against DMCA law and said taking down youtube-dl was wrong and he actively pushed for their reinstatement. [1] [1] http…

Copilot is still fresh in my mind as a reason to question using GitHub to host my source code. Though I understand that my opinion on this is not universal.

Re: Thank you, GitHub

#83
post #11

If I read another piece of American corporate crap --- plastic, formulaic, always-be-selling --- I'm gonna throw up on my keyboard. The write-up is rife with stock phrases, and vapid emotionalism. Somewhere when the rest of us are busy there's a room somewhere where people get the cheat-sheet, fill-in-the-blank training that produces this junk. Look the guy probably had some success and met some great people. So why…

When you are a company leader, your words can have a material effect on your business. This is doubly so true at a disruptive point like leadership exits. Of course words are going to be delicately chosen? That being said I didn't notice anything particularly offensive about this letter. He describes the accomplishments under his watch, expresses gratitude for employees, and expresses confidence in his successor.

There is one particular corporate leader who speaks their mind and has made a tremendous impact on the world. So, it's not clear if it has anything to do with polished big-corp language.

I'd rather listen to someone who is straightforward than Sundar Pichai speaking entirely in corporate-speak while saying absolutely nothing of value or substance. Completely uninspiring.

All corporate speak is rather an invention of the 80's and 90's. Listen to corporate leaders from any other time before that.

Re: Thank you, GitHub

#84
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"..which fulfills my lifelong ambition of..." OP is probably referring to this tired, cliched turn of phrase (among other examples in the blog).

I read this as a tongue in cheek joke?

I read as dumb. It doesn't give any value to the piece, very akin to virtue signaling.

Re: Thank you, GitHub

#85
post #43

I'm kinda worried about GH now. I actually worked at MS over a decade ago. They had a pattern at the time which routinely drove their acquisitions into the ground. It went something like this: an acquisition happens, and in order for folks who matter to not jump ship immediately, the acquired company would be allowed to operate semi-autonomously for a while. A year, year and a half sharks from Microsoft proper would…

You forgot the part about "leveraging" Windows into places where the acquired company had previously determined it was wholly unsuitable.

Gack, what a terrible company.

Re: Thank you, GitHub

#86
post #3

Things Nat Friedman could have done, but didn't, while CEO of GitHub: stop the use of GitHub Enterprise in organizations that operate concentration camps. https://www.vice.com/amp/en/article/m7jpgy/open-source-commu...

Hate to see this downvoted, and glad it got vouched. This is my number one gripe with GitHub and is frequently dismissed as a conspiracy when it is very real. GitHub does nothing because nobody cares, and that's a sad state of affairs.

Re: Thank you, GitHub

#87
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> shareholders It belongs to Microsoft, doesn't it?

Microsoft has shareholders, don't they?

In 2018, MS had 110 billion USD in revenue, while Github had 200-300 million USD. So the Github business is <0.5% of MS's revenue.

Re: Thank you, GitHub

#88

If person's legacy is a list of all the good things (or bad things) they've done during their time, Nat's legacy as the CEO of GitHub can also be summed into a list. Let me get started...I only remember this one thing but other users of HN can help add more I supposed: - That one time when Nat spoke against DMCA law and said taking down youtube-dl was wrong and he actively pushed for their reinstatement. [1] [1] http…

He integrated Github with Microsoft and didn't screw it up. That is quite an accomplishment honestly.

There's plenty of time for this to happen...

Re: Thank you, GitHub

#89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you are a company leader, your words can have a material effect on your business. This is doubly so true at a disruptive point like leadership exits. Of course words are going to be delicately chosen? That being said I didn't notice anything particularly offensive about this letter. He describes the accomplishments under his watch, expresses gratitude for employees, and expresses confidence in his successor.

There is one particular corporate leader who speaks their mind and has made a tremendous impact on the world. So, it's not clear if it has anything to do with polished big-corp language. I'd rather listen to someone who is straightforward than Sundar Pichai speaking entirely in corporate-speak while saying absolutely nothing of value or substance. Completely uninspiring. All corporate speak is rather an invention of…

Who is that?

Re: Thank you, GitHub

#90

Good data. We have learned that if your company ever gets bought by Microsoft, you have to wait about three years to be fully vested. (The acquisition was in June 2018, but I guess it must have been finalized on November 3rd ;)

Nat was originally on the Microsoft side when GitHub was acquired, not the GitHub side.

Does not change the fact that he stepped into the company he co-founded with vesting shares 3 years ago.
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