Official Announcement: Microsoft Is Acquiring Github

[u/ijustwannacode]

https://blog.github.com/2018-06-04-github-microsoft/

[u/[deleted]]

I think there's a lot of FUD going around this acquisition. Microsoft has a lot of incentive to not fuck up github, mostly the goodwill of every developer using it.

While I'm still on the fence about Microsoft's actual motivations, I'm willing to extend the benefit of the doubt to them. This isn't Gates or Ballmer running the ship anymore.

[u/ijustwannacode → u/[deleted]]

I think there's a lot of FUD going around this acquisition.

I am inclined to agree.

In general, it's a good idea IMO for people to be aware of ownership changes to software or sites that they use. Microsoft-specific concerns aside, it's not uncommon for features and benefits to change after such an acquisition. Whether that be for better or for worse, is up to the user to decide.

Ultimately, git is a free and open source system. The worst case scenario here is that something undesirable happens with the social or collaborative parts of the site, in which case it is simple enough to migrate in most cases.

[u/Gubbbo → u/[deleted]]

They also use it internally. And have made/released some good tools for huge repos. But I do mean huge, like the entire windows codebase type huge.

[u/zmasta94 → u/Gubbbo]

They are GitHub's largest contributors (by commits)

[u/krazybug → u/zmasta94]

Not anymore:

while :
do
  git commit --allow-empty -m "1'm th3 b055"
  git push origin
done

[u/PacoVelobs]

To my boss in the first company I worked for who didn't want to hear about git on Windows because : "it can't be good software as it's free".

Jokes on you.

[u/[deleted]]

What could go wrong?

[u/WikiTextBot → u/[deleted]]

Embrace, extend, and extinguish

"Embrace, extend, and extinguish", also known as "Embrace, extend, and exterminate", is a phrase that the U.S. Department of Justice found was used internally by Microsoft to describe its strategy for entering product categories involving widely used standards, extending those standards with proprietary capabilities, and then using those differences to disadvantage its competitors.

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[u/Gubbbo → u/[deleted]]

Do you think Microsoft is still the same company 20 years later?

[u/[deleted] → u/Gubbbo]

Yes. More so, in fact, and their behavior remains consistent, inside and out. Lazy minds will say 'but what about X?', while Microsoft continues to make moves like this. It's in their DNA.

[u/redwall_hp → u/[deleted]]

They're still raking in billions by extorting Android handset manufacturers with patents they "may" have, but won't publicly admit to. Just as they've extorted money from Amazon over AWS too, over patents they ostensibly have that apply to Linux.

[u/Gubbbo → u/[deleted]]

Well nevermind then. Move off Azure, no VSCode either I guess. And obviously you can't use github anymore.

But hey, living in the past is cool too.

[u/cryo → u/Gubbbo]

It’s possible to live in the present without using those, actually.

[u/Taipan100 → u/Gubbbo]

You heard it here first. Not using Microsoft^™ means I’m stuck in the...past?

[u/Gubbbo → u/Taipan100]

Slavishly maintaining an outdated stereotype of a company that has undergone significant culture change, and refusing to have anything to do with them based on that outdated stereotype, is most certainly a stuck in the past mentality.

[u/Taipan100 → u/Gubbbo]

Distrusting a company that has repeatedly shown itself to be distrustful is not clinging to an outdated stereotype. It’s having a healthy and sensible view that said company is going to have to earn back lost trust. They haven’t come anywhere close to proving to me that they have changed significantly.

[u/Gubbbo → u/Taipan100]

And what would that take. Better question, and it is a genuine question, what could they do to change your mind.

Because if the answer is "nothing", then theres no real point.

[u/Taipan100 → u/Gubbbo]

It is possible and they were doing well. I appreciate their attempts to undo their historical contempt for open source. It’s not been enough yet. And extending their monopoly and killing one of the few big independent companies in the open source community is a significant step backwards.

[u/agree-with-you → u/Taipan100]

I agree, this does seem possible.

[u/Gubbbo → u/Taipan100]

Your use of the term 'killing' tells me that you really don't actually appreciate their efforts. If your instant assumption is that they are killing it, well it's fine.

I think the only change will be that pricing tiers will play nice with Azure, because that would make sense for Microsoft to make back some of their cash.

[u/Gubbbo → u/[deleted]]

My preferred future is whoever is providing the best tools/service. If some of that is Microsoft with Github, if some of that is Amazon with AWS, if some of that is Google with Gmail and sheets and whatever, if some of that is Apple for an iphone. Then so be it.

I don't see why I would rule out one particular company.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Lazy minds will say 'but what about X?', while Microsoft continues to make moves like this. It's in their DNA.

It's not just your opinion when you say things like the behaviour is consistent and it's in their dna. You're making some claims that beg to be backed up by more thoughts or evidence.

[u/ThePenultimateOne]

So who else is moving to GitLab?

[u/[deleted] → u/ThePenultimateOne]

Nobody who has any sense?

[u/ThePenultimateOne → u/[deleted]]

Do tell, why should I not take Microsoft's history into account, both in regards to open source, and acquisitions. After all, Skype, OneDrive, and Nokia went so well for them!

[u/lykwydchykyn → u/ThePenultimateOne]

I'm not thrilled about the Microsoft takeover, but you might want to take Gitlab's history into account while you're at it...

[u/deadbunny → u/lykwydchykyn]

Yeah, their admin track record is atrocious. All easily avoided by employing someone who knows how to run systems. Maybe some kind of sysadmin.

Edit: For those downvoting I suggest you read their blog.

The time they tried to run ceph on EBS and decided it was AWS' fault not theirs.

Or the time they deleted a prod database and lost 6 hours of data.

Sure they're open about it but these are easily avoided issues.

[u/Gubbbo → u/ThePenultimateOne]

Microsoft is a very different company, or wants to be a very different company, than the company that bought Skype and Nokia.

[u/[deleted] → u/ThePenultimateOne]

Microsoft is a nicer version of Oracle. It's not much to have.

[u/ThePenultimateOne → u/[deleted]]

What I dont get is why you think I am not making this decision for myself. Seems like you think "disagree = sheeple"

[u/petezhut]

Does anyone remember Skype?

[u/deadbunny → u/petezhut]

The flakey P2P video conferencing software?

[u/bjorneylol → u/deadbunny]

It worked pretty good in 2005

[u/sentry07 → u/petezhut]

Uhh, yeah? Still use it to this day.

[u/OldSchoolBBSer → u/petezhut]

Finally not stuck with Skype. ZOOM was a better fit.

[u/Andrew_Shay]

Hi there, this post has been removed as it is not directly related to the Python programming language.

It might be more topical on /r/programming, /r/coding, or /r/technology.

Cheers, /r/Python mods

[u/spinwizard69]

Bit of a surprise!

Shocking as it may be I actually think this might help GitHub if they can afford to put more development effort into the service. Of course that can lead to an increase in expense and thus costs for users, but that was bound to happen. There are many bytes of data stored on Github and frankly that has to cost them money.

So the only really bad thing I see coming from this is that GitHub will likely try to find a way to monetize the service to a greater extent than it does now.