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Microsoft acquires Github

blogs.microsoft.com

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Re: Microsoft acquires Github

#81
post #7

Guess that's the very definition of finally reaching their stated goal: Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33grif58qO8

These days Bill Gates is a philanthropist and Steve Ballmer owns a Basketball team.

Re: Microsoft acquires Github

#83
post #10

"When it comes to our commitment to open source, judge us by the actions we have taken in the recent past, our actions today, and in the future." How is that patent extortion going then? Still earning you money? Any plans to stop in "the near future"? Didn't think so. I'm sure Microsoft will improve github. Just like it improved skype.

So which company would you rather buy Github? GitHub wasn't profitable. Would you rather it just disappear?

Interesting, where are the financials for GitHub available? What sort of deficit were they running?

I think the answer would be 'a company without a history of ruining things one loved' -- my recent experience of Microsoft is very negative too (though I've seen some awesome tech demos of their's).

GitHub being unprofitable makes the situation worse because one knows then MS intend to make major changes: either to destroy it, or squeeze money from it.

Re: Microsoft acquires Github

#85

I am a GitLab user and have been for about 2 years now. With that being said, I think this acquisition makes a ton of sense strategically. Microsoft has really been trying to change their identity from being a stuffy close-source corporation to an open company that developers can rely on. And they have done pretty well at this. They open sourced .net, run MS SQL on Linux, and have released the WSL (which would have b…

It is reported that GH makes about $200M a year.

Re: Microsoft acquires Github

#86
post #7

Guess that's the very definition of finally reaching their stated goal: Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33grif58qO8

Keeping in mind, of course, that Ballmer's Microsoft is very, very different from Nadella's Microsoft...

Keeping in mind, of course, that it's an opinion, and not a fact. I happen to have the opposite opinion, although I documented it a lot more:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17225290

History does not help with trusting them.

So let's wait and see.

But I talked about MS PR team before, and I can already see it at work everywhere. Here, the first HN links were not warmly welcomed, so we had another one published, then another one published, until one with a positive top comment for them is here.

Also plenty of comments to defend them by using vague positive things like "they did good things recently" or "they like open source".

If you go on reddit you'll see the same is happening.

The good thing is that it means now they care a lot about what we think of them. They didn't before. So at least, if they haven't changed, they are forced to act like they have.

Re: Microsoft acquires Github

#87
post #8
post #2

Satya Nadela's done differently to his predecessors, maybe this will go well. I understand the concern of a few companies dominating everything that we use, but time will tell.

Microsoft has been setting a very (almost unthinkably) different course since Ballmer departed. Bash on Windows, Visual Studio Code, as well as other seemingly genuine commitments to open source. It's wonderful that competitors like GitLab exist, and today is probably a great day for them, but I'm willing to give Microsoft the benefit of the doubt on this one - we won't be moving.

Meanwhile the rent-seeking on FAT patents continues

Re: Microsoft acquires Github

#88
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder what people would have thought if Github had just disappeared instead of selling to Microsoft? I mean I understand some concern, but this can really only be a good thing for Github in the long run. It isn't like Microsoft was producing a competitor and just bought them to kill them. Honestly, I like this better than Amazon or Google buying them.

This is an important point. Microsoft's acquisition of GitHub means that Amazon and Google lost out on a major component of the developer ecosystem. I doubt we'll be able to predict how they'll respond. Their own code hosting services are... anemic, in Amazon's case, and dead, in Google's case.

Yeah, it'll be interesting.

In hindsight, it's amazing the other hyperscale cloud providers didn't buy it.

Re: Microsoft acquires Github

#89

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…

Nokia is pretty much alive.

As for what Elop did, in case you missed the news, he only did what the Nokia board themselves asked him to do, and even gave him a bonus for achieving it.

Re: Microsoft acquires Github

#90

Numerous possibilities for Microsoft having a product with millions of developers. Some top of my head, -> Bundle Github Business Plans and Office 365 which includes Microsoft Teams I guess. -> Better azure integrations and push developers for more Azure usage -> Push VSCode out to more developers -> Connect LinkedIn accounts of developers to their GitHub accounts and help companies hire better

More generally, cloud is the key. MS is using O365 as a lead-in to Azure and Google is using G Suite the same way. GitLab currently has built-in support to pump your CI pipeline to Google Cloud and comes with some hosting credits. That would be the obvious next step for MS. Introduce one-click deployment to Azure Container Service. I can also see VS Code in the browser for your GitHub projects, but that would be brand halo, not a money maker.
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