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What is wrong with Microsoft buying GitHub

jacquesmattheij.com

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Re: What is wrong with Microsoft buying GitHub

#61

Post by latch »

raesene9 wrote: post #4

The idea that some companies must be forever tainted by their misdeads in the past seems odd to me. Companies change leadership, direction and style and it seems odd to suggest that there's some underlying quality which means that, regardless of that, you can never trust them (or in reverse that you should always trust a company you once trusted) There seems to be a trope with Microsoft that they're still the same co…

What you say is worth considering, but I think you implicitly overstate two points: 1) their shenanigans aren't as old as you imply 2) these crimes happen over the course of years.

You talk about the 90s, but it was in 2004 that the EU ruled against them, and 2008 that they were fined for ignoring that ruling. It was in 2011 that Ireland and Spain started to investigate them for additional anticompetitive practices (though I can't seem to find what cam from this).

Much more recently, they've been rather litigious with respect to patents (Microsoft uses patents offensively).

Then there's the telemetry stuff in windows and Skype centralization, and probably more that I don't know because...

What _has_ changed, is Microsoft's relevance. They're still huge in some markets, but many business' and individuals barely interact directly with the Microsoft platform/ecosystem.

Re: What is wrong with Microsoft buying GitHub

#62

Post by Quarrelsome »

ssijak wrote: post #21
onion2k wrote: post #13

Assuming GitHub was actually losing money and couldn't fix that problem quickly enough it's fair to assume they had to sell, and it's reasonable to believe there aren't that many companies who could have bought them if you think an understanding of the domain is important, then you're really limited to Facebook (user surveillance, adverts), Apple (bad at software, not developer friendly), Google (user surveillance, a…

How is Apple not developer friendly?

Apple store EULA agreement with developers is the most macabre and lengthy mis-spelling of the words: "fuck you".

Its not a nice agreement.

Re: What is wrong with Microsoft buying GitHub

#63

Post by hiccuphippo »

doubleunplussed wrote: post #42

I agree with this article on the basis that if Microsoft's incentives haven't changed, then there's no reason Microsoft should be expected to behave any differently to the nineties. Arguing that they're a different company I think should require arguments that their incentives are different, and I don't see that they are.

I think for them today selling Azure is a bigger incentive than selling Windows and Office.

Re: What is wrong with Microsoft buying GitHub

#64

Post by vortico »

gressquel wrote: post #43

I myself am optimistic but some few questrions popped up: Microsoft is very proactive removing things from azure and shutting down sites as soon as they receive DMCA complaint or abuse complaint. Are they going to remove important github repos like these if they get DMCA or other complaints? https://github.com/Roy47Zhang/CSGO-Aimbot-Project (cheat for Counter strike) https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl (download from v…

What's wrong with this? I don't want unauthorized infringing projects jeopardizing the service the rest of us use legally and ethically. Invalid DMCAs are another story, but what's the harm of respecting an IP owner's valid DMCA request?

Re: What is wrong with Microsoft buying GitHub

#65

Post by cecja »

raesene9 wrote: post #34
cecja wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tainted for the past? Did you see what happened with windows 10 or that they are not able to fix skype? To be honest there are screens popping up every day from one stupid mistake after another from ms. They have more dead products in their portfolio than anyone else they embraced change on the xbox to do a 360 afterwards. NO ONE and I mean NO ONE should put any hope into MS doing the right thing or be a reliable par…

So a company that has a bad product launch or problems should be avoided? Would you avoid all google products (and indeed most other tech. companies) on that basis as well? they've had their fair share of things gone wrong, products killed etc. I don't see that as a strong argument against an MS acquisition of GH. Microsoft have had quite a good story in recent times in the developer tools arena (e.g. Code)

Well, google is in the same boat as ms with their 8 messaging apps killing of services left and right. As I said if you use to core products you are fine. MS and google left to many shit stains on the carpet to be trusted anymore. You have to be kidding me with the developer tools arena just because you are one of the hipsters falling for wsl and vscode doesn't mean they have done good for the general programming platform. Look at the UWP/win32 dilemma or the PWA "integration" or even .NET. If they don't fix their stack I am not gonna praise them for some gimmicks like you are.

Re: What is wrong with Microsoft buying GitHub

#66

Post by raesene9 »

doubleunplussed wrote: post #42

I agree with this article on the basis that if Microsoft's incentives haven't changed, then there's no reason Microsoft should be expected to behave any differently to the nineties. Arguing that they're a different company I think should require arguments that their incentives are different, and I don't see that they are.

I'd suggest that MS incentives are very different to the 90's.

In the 90's they made their money from on-premises software installations, Windows/Office/SQL Server etc.

So their incentives then were to ensure that people used their software as much as possible.

Now the growth engine for Microsoft's platform is services (e.g. Azure). On Azure you can deploy Linux and Windows based applications, the underlying OS doesn't matter, Microsoft still make money on it.

This means that their incentive is to have a good and smooth developer experience and to get as many people onto the Azure platform.

Re: What is wrong with Microsoft buying GitHub

#67

Post by oblio »

21stio wrote: post #16
mlazos wrote: post #5

TLDR; the 90’s happened. Delete your github account because Microsoft is evil. I’m surprised this article got this far because it really doesn’t add anything unique to discussions that are already happening.

not all of us witnessed the 90's..

Read this stuff: http://www.catb.org/esr/halloween/

And after you do, remember that Google, Apple, Amazon, etc. have also read those documents and now they're smarter about hiding it.

Also, Microsoft has changed and we're not living in the 90's anymore.

Re: What is wrong with Microsoft buying GitHub

#68

Post by macns »

mlazos wrote: post #5

TLDR; the 90’s happened. Delete your github account because Microsoft is evil. I’m surprised this article got this far because it really doesn’t add anything unique to discussions that are already happening.

Putting personal sentiment aside (delete github account part) an article like this is needed to sum up and justify developer worries that are scattered through discussions here and other online communities.

Re: What is wrong with Microsoft buying GitHub

#69

Post by scbrg »

raesene9 wrote: post #4

The idea that some companies must be forever tainted by their misdeads in the past seems odd to me. Companies change leadership, direction and style and it seems odd to suggest that there's some underlying quality which means that, regardless of that, you can never trust them (or in reverse that you should always trust a company you once trusted) There seems to be a trope with Microsoft that they're still the same co…

> There seems to be a trope with Microsoft that they're still the same company they were in the 90's, but the senior leadership aren't the same people and I'd imagine neither are the staff.

Their senior leadership consists of people who were obviously OK with working for Microsoft when it was performing all those misdeeds. They may have changed as people perhaps, but at some point the very same people who are making the strategic decisions now decided that working for the 90's incarnation of Microsoft was a morally acceptable choice. I'm not sure why I should suddenly start trusting these people now?

Re: What is wrong with Microsoft buying GitHub

#70

Post by mixedbit »

onion2k wrote: post #13

Assuming GitHub was actually losing money and couldn't fix that problem quickly enough it's fair to assume they had to sell, and it's reasonable to believe there aren't that many companies who could have bought them if you think an understanding of the domain is important, then you're really limited to Facebook (user surveillance, adverts), Apple (bad at software, not developer friendly), Google (user surveillance, a…

How about Atlassian?
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