Microsoft Has Reportedly Reached A Deal To Acquire GitHub

[caligula]

I was always quite interested in why so many open-source developers accepted GitHub as the "defacto standard". It is just a company with a proprietary web service platform.

Same with Slack and all that other webdev crap that kids like to use.

Was GitHub even allowed to use "Git" in the name? Surely that is owned by Torvalds?

What is Microsoft going to do with GitHub that it didn't with CodePlex? That failed pretty bad.

I guess the answer is, stay light and standards compliant so you can jump ship when it starts to sink. Luckily I have done so

Well, compared to their competitors, github is a pretty nice web service. If your project is public and open source, afaik it doesn't restrict you in any way. Maybe hard to migrate all the project metadata to another service, but is this really a problem? For instance sourceforge is terrible, google code was quite limited.

[speculatrix]

with git, it's pretty trivial to migrate to a different provider. I'm going to start looking for a different git host, but I'm not in a desperate hurry just yet.

[illwieckz]

On a article from Business Insider (see https://twitter.com/illwieckz/status...95695359631360 ) I read those words :

On the most surface level, the logic of buying GitHub is pretty clear. Developers love GitHub, and Microsoft needs the love of developers.

But, Microsoft can't buy love…

[illwieckz]

Well, compared to their competitors, github is a pretty nice web service. If your project is public and open source, afaik it doesn't restrict you in any way. Maybe hard to migrate all the project metadata to another service, but is this really a problem? For instance sourceforge is terrible, google code was quite limited.

GitLab is pretty good.

[Nille_kungen]

As far as i know Microsoft has switched to git so i am not surprised at all that they acquire github, i was rather expecting something like this.

[Anvil]

i wonder if DNF will now go over to GITLAB now?

[GunpowaderGuy]

There goes atom

[ermo]

Embrace, extend ...

This is the obvious move for a Microsoft which wants to try to stay relevant and maintain developer mindshare. Nobody in their right mind would want to use (much less pay for) their in-house VCS and since they've bet big on git internally, this also makes sense from a business perspective I guess, if the goal is to entice SMBs to convert from free to premium plans.

The best thing about this is that it will revive interest in Github alternatives, if only because people don't quite trust MS to do no evil (or to even just get things mostly right). I'm sure MS employ quality developers, but I'm as of yet unconvinced that the business part of the entity really "gets" what modern developers want. I can easily see MS' product planners eff up Github in the longer term.

In any case it'll be interesting to observe the upcoming exodus from Github. This is a golden opportunity for alternative git webservices I'd wager.

[Luke_Wolf]

As far as i know Microsoft has switched to git so i am not surprised at all that they acquire github, i was rather expecting something like this.

More accurately Microsoft has moved to using Github itself, which may as much be what this is about.

[hikingpete]

Fuck! I'm out. git clone. Delete account.