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Microsoft Is Said to Have Agreed to Acquire GitHub

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Re: Microsoft Is Said to Have Agreed to Acquire GitHub

#241

Post by cookiecaper »

sytse wrote: post #186

Thanks for mentioning GitLab as the next big one. We're seeing people #movingtogitlab

GitLab is also venture funded. What's the end game there? Wouldn't GitLab's investors, including YC, be ecstatic to see the company achieve a similar outcome? Wouldn't they consider basically any other outcome to be a failure?

The bigger question is why GitHub didn't IPO. They have name recognition and prominence such that it wouldn't really be a surprise to hear that they were doing so. I don't have any internal details, so maybe the numbers just didn't line up, but that would've been the investor-approved exit that allowed it to maintain some neutrality.

That leads to the next question: if GitHub didn't/couldn't IPO with all of its name recognition, why should anyone expect that GitLab will?

While Atlassian's open-source pedigree is much weaker, they own BitBucket, and they're a bootstrapped startup that focuses on developer tools. They IPO'd a few years ago. They're probably the best bet for developers interested in a "neutral" hosting platform.

Re: Microsoft Is Said to Have Agreed to Acquire GitHub

#242

Post by Ros2 »

pesfandiar wrote: post #165

I hope they keep GitHub Pages, even if it's not free anymore. It's so convenient to host small static sites there.

Netlify does this for free along with a path to hosting larger sites as well. I found them via HN and have seen them recommended here many times.

Re: Microsoft Is Said to Have Agreed to Acquire GitHub

#243

Post by jenscow »

I'm not one to praise Microsoft without reason - I've worked the last 2 decades with their tech.

However, I don't see this as a negative thing. Provided they don't trash it like most of their acquisitions - and bear in mind they sort of depend on github themselves.

I feel this will prevent github from going like sourceforge now that someone with deep pockets can support it.

They have a lot of PR to lose if they screw this one up. Generally, migration is a only few git commands away.

Re: Microsoft Is Said to Have Agreed to Acquire GitHub

#244

Post by olivermarks »

gressquel wrote: post #27
lkrubner wrote: post #17

I'm worried. Consider what happened to Skype. Consider what happened to LinkedIn. I worry something similar will happen to Github. And I love Github. At some point Microsoft told me I had to change my password for Skype. The "Reset your password" process failed 6 times in a row. I eventually had to create a new, Microsoft ID, to use Skype. I lost all of my old contacts and had to slowly recreate my address book. This…

what did they do with LinkedIn?? I havent noticed any change. as for Skype, its completely ruined. I have it installed but I am scared to open it. Horrible GUI. Constant updates and generally just useless now.

I've heard claims that Skype is no longer peer to peer but runs on msft networks/infrastructure and performance has suffered. Can anyone confirm or shed any more light on that?

Re: Microsoft Is Said to Have Agreed to Acquire GitHub

#246

Post by objclxt »

PascLeRasc wrote: post #34

This is sad news. Partially because I don't care for Microsoft, but mostly because Github was a neutral third-party without any priorities. I hope they don't discontinue Atom or apply their UX styling to the site/desktop app. Like Spotify, I felt safer that a company was just doing hosting in their domain (of music or code projects) and wouldn't try to shovel some other tech into it like Apple making Apple Music terr…

> I hope they don't discontinue Atom

Atom is MIT licensed, GitHub can't "discontinue" Atom so much as stop paying their engineers to contribute to the project. After that it's whether there's enough impetus outside the company to continue the work (I suspect there probably is, Facebook are heavily invested in Atom).

Re: Microsoft Is Said to Have Agreed to Acquire GitHub

#247

Post by foepys »

scarface74 wrote: post #205
bauerd wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you ascribe different meaning to "neutral" than most others here

I ascribe "neutral" to technology. VSTS supports every major platform/OS and the tools are on par for all of them.

By "neutral" people mean politically neutral (as in no affiliation with anybody). There is a big chance Google will start using their own hosting platform again for all their code. Same with other Microsoft competitors.

Re: Microsoft Is Said to Have Agreed to Acquire GitHub

#248

Post by amelius »

IncRnd wrote: post #227
aphextron wrote: post #159

What a betrayal. I'm starting to get really sick of this whole economic paradigm in general. A few lucky smart people who were in the right place at the right time become fabulously wealthy beyond the dreams of the greatest kings who ever lived in history, off the work and contributions of millions of users creating all of the content for free, with absolutely no say in anything. Is this really the best way to do thi…

There are other options for hosting code on the Internet, and people will definitely take advantage of them, if a non-neutral party purchases GH. Besides, what is wrong with someone who created a business later selling that business for a profit?

The problem is that our data is in there now, and it costs time and effort to get it out.

Re: Microsoft Is Said to Have Agreed to Acquire GitHub

#249

Post by kakwa_ »

zackya89 wrote: post #66
LeanderK wrote: post #45

I am worried that a company as important to the open-source community as github is now owned by one of the major players. I think it really impacts the neutrality of github. If I would compete with microsoft in a certain space, I would really think twice about relying on github. Also, this monopolization is driving me mad.

the history of Microsoft is the reason why we all reacting this way. But encouraged by the move they made lately coming into Linux, even though other players have forced their hand

I would be as worried if it was AWS or Google.

Github should remain a neutral ground in my opinion.

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