Microsoft acquiring GitHub - will it be good or bad ?
I am wary myself.
Microsoft gobbles up everything, and then we are inundated with advertisements promoting Microsoft platforms, languages and products.
Microsoft also have a history of taking other companies IP (Stacker Technologies) and will commercial companies feel that their code is safe on private accounts ?
I too am wary. I don’t like open platforms such as GitHub being taken over by any company likely to inject promotions and advertising for their other products.
That being said, I’ve seen others object on the basis that the projects hosted on GitHub will become Microsoft’s intellectual property. I’ve been convinced that that simply isn’t true, since GitHub itself explicitly denies they own the IP represented by the projects it hosts - they each are able to define the ownership and use of their own IP. And Microsoft would face such an incredible backlash should they attempt to change this that it just won’t happen - even if the acquisition goes through.
It’s true, there is no hint yet that Microsoft embracing Open Source is in anyway related to another “embrace, extend, and extinguish”.
But values like neutrality and independence inevitably suffer under dominance of a single party, no matter how much effort they put into being good. No human or earthly organization can be a “good god” (because unlike a god, we are neither omniscient nor free of personal interests).
I don’t wish any company to fail, but I think everyone would benefit if Microsoft gain no more than a healthy share of involvement, being one contributor among many equal others.
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I think it’ll probably be good for Microsoft and bad for GitHub users, but I’m no fortune teller.
My Xbox 360 got red rings, so then they sent me a replacement that got red rings, so then they sent me a 2nd replacement that got red rings. By that point, I gave up. And then my friend gave me a modded Xbox 360, which has somehow worked for years, aside from not being able to open the disk tray if there’s no game in it and crashing frequently. If Microsoft messed up Xbox that bad, then that makes me wary about the future of GitHub too.
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