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Microsoft promises to keep GitHub independent and open

24 points by Hoasi 8y ago

newnewpdro 8y ago
github is not open
- Hoasi 8y ago
  That makes the PR statement/exercice even more interesting.
- ovao 8y ago
  Microsoft’s usage of “open” here is that “any developer can plug into and extend” GitHub, which I guess in most respects is true. It’s not open in the sense of being open-source (though some GH components/projects are) or community-led.
  - dvfjsdhgfv 8y ago
    By this definition Microsoft Office is also open, since “any developer can plug into and extend” it.
jhare 8y ago
Microsoft is a giant, unscrupulous profitmonster. Lies
- Apes 8y ago
  But what company isn't these things to some degree? Even if there were somehow a theoretical Altruism Corp, then it wouldn't survive very long being a generous lossmonster, would it? It's about what shade of grey you want, not about choosing black or white.
  - jhare 8y ago
    I'm not demanding altrusim from a company, just scruples and actual independence, not stated. I'd far prefer Github have the scruples more than caring about what MS does at this point. MS doesn't tick that box for me historically and the smile on the new CEOs face doesn't trick me either. When the good cop leaves and the lawyers swoop in everybody's eyes get clawed out. Seems to me also GH is underestimating their FOSS following and how important that it was indep.?
walterbell 8y ago
What is Microsoft’s position on EU upload filters for copyright screening of code uploaded to Github? https://blog.github.com/2018-03-14-eu-proposal-upload-filters-code/ https://blog.github.com/2018-03-14-eu-proposal-upload-filter...
rinze 8y ago
For people that didn't live through the 90s: a Microsoft promise is as good as a Facebook promise.
- hungerstrike 8y ago
  I lived through the 90s and I’m glad they beat Apple, Netscape and others to a pulp during that time. I don’t really care how they did it because I like their shit better and I like their business model better too. What false promises did you personally get from them?
toofy 8y ago
GitHub had the community’s trust because it was a neutral company simply providing a service. I don’t see how most projects and companies can ever see a microsoft owned code repository as a neutral space. I truly hope they keep it independent, and I truly hope it succeeds, but at this point I question whether most projects and companies would trust microsoft over a neutral service like GitLab.
bb88 8y ago
AWS/Google missed an opportunity here. If nothing else then to deprive MS a key piece of their puzzle. Microsoft have a long play to build the developer pipeline from code editing to cloud deployment. MS has Azure as well as Visual Studio. Both were reasonably popular. Now they just needed the SCM piece. In the end software houses are looking for turn-key (god, did I just use that word?) cloud deployments, and this gets MS a long way there.
sfraise 8y ago
Yeah, until you have to use Visual Studio with it & it becomes harder and harder to use any non-Microsoft tools or services with it. When I hear "Microsoft is acquiring" I hear "We intend to stuff bloat, decrease UI/UX, limit compatibility & ultimately destroy". Hope I'm wrong.
soroso 8y ago
I don't believe Microsoft.
nimbius 8y ago
the evolution of this acquisition over the past two days has been interesting. Its even more interesting in the context of say, gitlab importer state metrics in grafana..beware, the importer metric is under heavy load and sometimes doesnt respond. https://monitor.gitlab.net/dashboard/db/github-importer https://monitor.gitlab.net/dashboard/db/github-importer Reports of migrations to other sites are real, and Microsoft sees a risk thats legitimate enough to issue a presser. Its going to be hard to head off a github exodus at the pass because git itself is open source and there are numerous alternatives that can quickly and easily (some with no more than the click of a button) spirit the github userbase --which is what Microsoft arguably wants in order to legitimize its cloud/open source push-- away from them. https://sourceforge.net/ https://sourceforge.net/ even released a special tool to migrate you away from github. Certainly some of the more business minded users will argue this acquisition from Microsoft is a "good move" but the fact that this is the second presser microsoft has thrown out regarding the nature of its merger in less than 5 hours reflects a pretty sincere push from redmond. Microsofts historic legacy of fear, uncertainty, doubt, and outright hostile action to crush open source and startups in general is a pretty insurmountable.
- corobo 8y ago
  Yeah nice try Sourceforge. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SourceForge#Project_hijackings_and_bundled_malware https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SourceForge#Project_hijackings...
openmosix 8y ago
Said every acquisition ever.

24 points by Hoasi 8y ago

newnewpdro 8y ago

github is not open

Hoasi 8y ago
That makes the PR statement/exercice even more interesting.
ovao 8y ago
Microsoft’s usage of “open” here is that “any developer can plug into and extend” GitHub, which I guess in most respects is true. It’s not open in the sense of being open-source (though some GH components/projects are) or community-led.
- dvfjsdhgfv 8y ago
  By this definition Microsoft Office is also open, since “any developer can plug into and extend” it.

jhare 8y ago

Microsoft is a giant, unscrupulous profitmonster. Lies

Apes 8y ago
But what company isn't these things to some degree? Even if there were somehow a theoretical Altruism Corp, then it wouldn't survive very long being a generous lossmonster, would it? It's about what shade of grey you want, not about choosing black or white.
- jhare 8y ago
  I'm not demanding altrusim from a company, just scruples and actual independence, not stated. I'd far prefer Github have the scruples more than caring about what MS does at this point. MS doesn't tick that box for me historically and the smile on the new CEOs face doesn't trick me either. When the good cop leaves and the lawyers swoop in everybody's eyes get clawed out. Seems to me also GH is underestimating their FOSS following and how important that it was indep.?

walterbell 8y ago

What is Microsoft’s position on EU upload filters for copyright screening of code uploaded to Github? https://blog.github.com/2018-03-14-eu-proposal-upload-filters-code/ https://blog.github.com/2018-03-14-eu-proposal-upload-filter...

rinze 8y ago

For people that didn't live through the 90s: a Microsoft promise is as good as a Facebook promise.

hungerstrike 8y ago
I lived through the 90s and I’m glad they beat Apple, Netscape and others to a pulp during that time. I don’t really care how they did it because I like their shit better and I like their business model better too. What false promises did you personally get from them?

toofy 8y ago

GitHub had the community’s trust because it was a neutral company simply providing a service. I don’t see how most projects and companies can ever see a microsoft owned code repository as a neutral space. I truly hope they keep it independent, and I truly hope it succeeds, but at this point I question whether most projects and companies would trust microsoft over a neutral service like GitLab.

bb88 8y ago

AWS/Google missed an opportunity here. If nothing else then to deprive MS a key piece of their puzzle. Microsoft have a long play to build the developer pipeline from code editing to cloud deployment. MS has Azure as well as Visual Studio. Both were reasonably popular. Now they just needed the SCM piece. In the end software houses are looking for turn-key (god, did I just use that word?) cloud deployments, and this gets MS a long way there.

sfraise 8y ago

Yeah, until you have to use Visual Studio with it & it becomes harder and harder to use any non-Microsoft tools or services with it. When I hear "Microsoft is acquiring" I hear "We intend to stuff bloat, decrease UI/UX, limit compatibility & ultimately destroy". Hope I'm wrong.

soroso 8y ago

I don't believe Microsoft.

nimbius 8y ago

the evolution of this acquisition over the past two days has been interesting. Its even more interesting in the context of say, gitlab importer state metrics in grafana..beware, the importer metric is under heavy load and sometimes doesnt respond. https://monitor.gitlab.net/dashboard/db/github-importer https://monitor.gitlab.net/dashboard/db/github-importer Reports of migrations to other sites are real, and Microsoft sees a risk thats legitimate enough to issue a presser. Its going to be hard to head off a github exodus at the pass because git itself is open source and there are numerous alternatives that can quickly and easily (some with no more than the click of a button) spirit the github userbase --which is what Microsoft arguably wants in order to legitimize its cloud/open source push-- away from them. https://sourceforge.net/ https://sourceforge.net/ even released a special tool to migrate you away from github. Certainly some of the more business minded users will argue this acquisition from Microsoft is a "good move" but the fact that this is the second presser microsoft has thrown out regarding the nature of its merger in less than 5 hours reflects a pretty sincere push from redmond. Microsofts historic legacy of fear, uncertainty, doubt, and outright hostile action to crush open source and startups in general is a pretty insurmountable.

corobo 8y ago
Yeah nice try Sourceforge. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SourceForge#Project_hijackings_and_bundled_malware https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SourceForge#Project_hijackings...

openmosix 8y ago

Said every acquisition ever.