Microsoft buys GitHub

[Robert B. Denny]

Caveat: I have no relationship with Microsoft or GitHub, period.

On 6/4/2018 9:13 PM, Dave Morris wrote:
> Turns out that GitHub was in a vulnerable position, and selling to 
> Microsoft may give them the resources they need.

It may be worth taking an unvarnished look at /why /GitHub was vulnerable. It
also may be worth taking an unvarnished look at /where /Microsoft has been going
with their business since the departure of Steve Ballmer.

A "free" service, supporting a community of people who believe software should
be open and free, yet having big costs? Eventually you run out of other peoples'
money. I would say that to me at least (and at that time) Git's business model
was unsustainable at the outset, and thus people with significant work product
value depending on GitHub was a bad idea five years ago.  Would you have gone to
work for Git then get a  mortgage, buy a house and have kids? I stayed away
because I have skin in the game and would not want a loss.

Now it looks like a solid business (as opposed to a government entity) is going
to turn GitHub into a service that can be trusted and will continue onward.
Microsoft has been unbelievably good at staying the course with compatibility
and continuity while delivering first class development tools and giving them
away. Please don't drudge up 10+ year old stories. Ballmer is gone. And no one
knows where we'll be 10 years from now

I know the conventional WinDOZE religion is pervasive. In my opinion, though,
worrying about Microsoft and GitHub is a tempest in a teapot driven more by
religious preconceived notions than fact and clarity. You may find that you'll
be seeing adverts in the free tools, though, and will need to pay some nominal
fee for the use of their services without same. To me that is totally fair. How
they integrate it into their development environment will be interesting.

  -- Bob

PS: I know this will probably (farther) reduce my standing in the IVOA/VO
community but it comes from the heart.


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