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Microsoft acquires Github

blogs.microsoft.com

341–350 of 840 posts

Re: Microsoft acquires Github

#341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Haven't they spied on Windows 10 users? Do they not engage in patents racketeering? Have they not killed Nokia or ruined Skype? I don't think one can say they killed Nokia. Nokia's phone business was basically doomed after Android gained traction, and Microsoft just helped the company to pivot by overpaying for that part of the business, while leaving Nokia with everything that actually was making money.

Nokia had Maemo/Meego which wasn't on par with Android at that time wrt the software ecosystem, but with some investment in development could have killed it pretty easily: thanks to native code a device could offer the same performance using slower CPUs and less RAM, or be a lot snappier with the same hardware. Given due time, manufacturers and users would have noticed. As probably did Microsoft. You can have a full…

> with some investment in development could have killed it pretty easily: thanks to native code a device could offer the same performance using slower CPUs and less RAM, or be a lot snappier with the same hardware. Given due time, manufacturers and users would have noticed.

Windows Phone was native and extremely performant on even low end hardware. Microsoft dumped millions into development and couldn’t get traction. No way Maemo was going to displace Android.

Manufacturers literally do not care about anything except selling devices and are uninterested in performance except as it relates to bigger numbers that they can advertise with. Users consistently chose Android over Windows Phone demonstrating that their priorities did not align with picking the phone that would still be snappy in two years.

Nokia’s phone business was doomed. Even if they’d pivoted to Android devices they’d probably have still failed because that’s such a tough market with so much competition willing to sell phones with no margin.

Disclosure: Microsoft employee

Re: Microsoft acquires Github

#342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Why not let things play out a little before predicting chaos? History.

GP gave you a very good reason why this is different than historical Microsoft EEE[0]: > Github doesn't have the vendor lock-in that other companies have There's not much about Github that can't be easily replaced; it uses git at its core. Comments, issues, and wikis are convenient, but relatively simple to implement. The main value in Github is the de facto community status it has, which it earned by being an open c…

It's not like anything about github is open source. Maybe that will change.

Re: Microsoft acquires Github

#343
post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the difference is between 'constructive' and 'destructive' for-profit companies.

Microsoft is one of the most valuable companies on the planet because it is destructive? What’s that even mean?

There are two ways you create value for your employer:

1) creating value for their customers

2) maintaining the moat that prevents other people from creating value for their customers

The former is constructive, the latter is destructive. They both contribute revenue.

I haven’t done a full scale analysis of Microsoft, but the argument I would entertain is that Microsoft primarily sells tools for companies and individuals to built moats around themselves.

Re: Microsoft acquires Github

#344

People keep mentioning how "Microsoft changed" due to VS Code, the Linux subsystem, .NET Core. I say that they are the same company, only with different cash cows. Haven't they spied on Windows 10 users? Do they not engage in patents racketeering? Haven't they killed Nokia and ruined Skype? " But Mom, some of the other companies are doing it too ", well yeah, but some of us don't have double standards, in spite of wh…

Haven't they spied on Windows 10 users? Do they not engage in patents racketeering? Haven't they killed Nokia and ruined Skype?

This is small compared potatoes to the sort of thing Microsoft used to pull before. Microsoft spent years in the courts and narrowly avoided some very drastic government intervention and regulation on both sides of the Atlantic. That doesn't happen because someone might not like the new Skype UI or really misses flip phones.

Re: Microsoft acquires Github

#345
post #217

People keep mentioning how "Microsoft changed" due to VS Code, the Linux subsystem, .NET Core. I say that they are the same company, only with different cash cows. Haven't they spied on Windows 10 users? Do they not engage in patents racketeering? Haven't they killed Nokia and ruined Skype? " But Mom, some of the other companies are doing it too ", well yeah, but some of us don't have double standards, in spite of wh…

> acquisition GitHub will be led by Nat Friedman, the former CEO of Xamarin, which has some credibility Credibility of what? He's a Microsoft employee, being paid by Microsoft, and has made a ton of money by selling his company to Microsoft. Follow the money and you'll find nothing but allegiance to Microsoft and it's corporate goals. For the record - I don't think MS is as nefarious as people here are insinuating, I…

Funny story about him. He wanted to get a Job at Microsoft and wasn’t hired because he didn’t have the qualifications. Then he built Xamarin and made it a great C# open source tool to build apps. M$ really loved it and bought the company. Now he’s leading GitHub. That’s awesome.

Microsoft does have a dark history, it’s also a huge company and Terry Meyerson (windows lead) was an aweful leader.

Things definitely changed. Satya knows that they need the developer mindshare, and that means to go where the developers are.

I hate windows as much as anyone, but a lot of their products are top notch. God I love vscode and Typescript. Just only use their OS products and you’ll be happy.

Re: Microsoft acquires Github

#347

Friendly reminder: this is the same Microsoft that "empowered" skype and once called open source a cancer. Its the same Microsoft that ruined open document standards and started the browser wars. I wouldnt be surprised to see next years release of "Github Pro Platinum with Minecraft 3D and Windows Store integration" For those looking to move, https://gitlab.com is an excellent open source alternative that can easily…

[deleted]

Re: Microsoft acquires Github

#348

People keep mentioning how "Microsoft changed" due to VS Code, the Linux subsystem, .NET Core. I say that they are the same company, only with different cash cows. Haven't they spied on Windows 10 users? Do they not engage in patents racketeering? Haven't they killed Nokia and ruined Skype? " But Mom, some of the other companies are doing it too ", well yeah, but some of us don't have double standards, in spite of wh…

Their license for the .NET Core debugger makes it so that only they can use it, JetBrains and others cannot, see [1], they haven't changed at all. 1 - https://blog.jetbrains.com/dotnet/2017/02/15/rider-eap-17-nu...

Why would Microsoft give away their crown jewels to a competing IDE? They spent ages perfecting their debugger.

It's not like JetBrains can't build their own debugger based on the ICorDebug interface (which is what Microsoft's implementation is also based on).

Re: Microsoft acquires Github

#349
post #289

People keep mentioning how "Microsoft changed" due to VS Code, the Linux subsystem, .NET Core. I say that they are the same company, only with different cash cows. Haven't they spied on Windows 10 users? Do they not engage in patents racketeering? Haven't they killed Nokia and ruined Skype? " But Mom, some of the other companies are doing it too ", well yeah, but some of us don't have double standards, in spite of wh…

It's a nitpick, but they didn't ruin Skype, they branded Lync (which is a mountain of hot garbage) as Skype.

Not mutually exclusive.

Re: Microsoft acquires Github

#350
> We are committed to being stewards of the GitHub community, which will retain its developer-first ethos, operate independently and remain an open

> Finally, we will bring Microsoft’s developer tools and services to new audiences.

Which one is it ? Those statements are just contradictory .

It's obvious that they will bring all their stuff into Github as it has become a central piece for MS Engineers and has become strategic for them , either to optimize engineers productivity or just to better sell their products and Azure/Visual Studio Services Package.

Meaning whether or not you like MS tools , you will get some "Open in Visual Studio" button , send in "Microsoft Team" buttons etc... and probably more stuff like this that most people didn't wanted in the first place.

This is really a terrible day for Open Source.

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