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With how Google behaves in other areas do you really fault people for being skeptical?
by typon 6y ago
With how Google behaves in other areas do you really fault people for being skeptical?
- tomrod 6y agoWere it MS I'd be concerned. At least in my circles Google isn't known for this type of outcome. Can you add some color/explanation/examples for why you feel skepticism is warranted?
- gautamdivgi 6y agoActually MS has been relatively hands-off on Postgres, GitHub, Xamarin, etc. Of course they want to integrate it closely with Azure & their toolset. But I don't see them compromising any functionality or making things specific to MS tools.
- edgyquant 6y agoDoes Microsoft have a stake in Postgres? I’m not aware of that if so (not that it would make me stop using it, anyway.)
- gautamdivgi 6y agoThey acquired Citus Data a while back
- anarazel 6y agoCitus Data paid for one full-time Postgres developer for a while (me, before I left), and a few employees contributed things on and off. That didn't really provide Citus with a meaningful amount of control over the community, hence Microsoft didn't have that either after the acquisition. Since then Microsoft has hired a few Postgres contributors (Jeff Davis, Thomas Munro, me, David Rowley, Melanie Plageman) to work on Postgres itself. While larger than before, that's still not anything close to a controlling fraction of Postgres developers. Microsoft has - I guess I can't really provide anything more than just my word on it - been giving us a lot of latitude what we work on. FWIW.
- dmitriid 6y agoHere's Google's approach to web standards, for example: https://twitter.com/dmitriid/status/1356125702513418249?s=20 https://twitter.com/dmitriid/status/1356125702513418249?s=20
- tomrod 6y agoSince I don't do anything close to web dev, I really have no idea what this is saying.
- dmitriid 6y agoYou asked for examples why skepticism is warranted. These are examples. Web standards are designed in the open with input from other browser vendors among other things. Increasingly often Safari and Firefox object to specs developed by Chrome and flat out refuse to implement them. Chrome goes ahead, implements and releases them anyway. The visible reaction from the wider community? From nothing to saying that other browsers should keep up with Google. Edit: Forgot to mention: Google also disproportionately dominates the standards processes. The majority of specs and proposals across multiple working groups come from and are pushed through by Google.
- oefrha 6y agoSkeptical of what exactly? They fattened their long term sponsorship check by what, a millionth of their revenue? Less? What changed meaningfully? Do these “skeptical” people contribute to or even follow Python development at all?
- dmos62 6y agoGoogle might have their interests aligned with the ecosystem in this case, which is nice, but don't pretend that they haven't otherwise lost the public's trust.
- oefrha 6y agoAnd you don’t need to drag that into every topic that happens to contain the trigger word. There are a thousand other more relevant threads for you to pile on, which is my point. Who’s pretending? Stop opening every thread that contains your trigger word and ruin it for everyone else who’s actually interested in an on-topic discussion.
- californical 6y agoIt definitely is relevant here. If Google starts adding anything bad to Python, I need to know. I’m not a Python dev myself, but I know how many programs use it. If Google found a way to add some sort of telemetry to some core Python functionality (pip maybe?), it’s worthwhile for me to know to never install Python on my computer. Or at least not a newer version... or at least block Google’s telemetry IPs
- enneff 6y agoI do fault people for being mindlessly cynical. It clouds the discussion so much that it makes legitimate concerns harder to see. Spreading FUD about big corporations actually has the reverse effect; low effort criticism colours all criticism, making it easier to dismiss as paranoid whining.