Microsoft Acquires Github And Developers Start Acting Like Children
A couple of days ago Microsoft announced it was acquiring Github for $7.5 billion after rumours circulated days prior that it was going to happen.
Well, it didn't take long for developers and companies to start acting like a bunch of children, stamping their feet on the ground and proclaiming they were leaving Github and going over to a competitor like GitLab which has seen an uptick in people moving to their service.
There are a few issues at the core of this acquisition for some, but one is Microsoft's track record of acquisitions, namely Nokia, Skype and Yammer.
But people are ignoring the acquisitions that have been a success for Microsoft. We can't forget Microsoft acquired LinkedIn in 2016 for $26 billion and that seems to be running fine, it's still growing as other social networks such as Facebook and Twitter are shrinking.
And who can forget Microsoft buying Minecraft studio Mojang for $2.5 billion in 2014? Minecraft is still a profitable and popular game available on almost every platform imaginable.
News flash: we are not in the 90's anymore.
It's hard to dispute that CEO Satya Nadella has been doing everything right since he took over from Steve Balmer in 2014.
Some concerns are that Microsoft is not a neutral entity and could use Github to favour its own projects over competitors. Which is a valid concern, but counterproductive to Microsoft's acquisition. If it were ever revealed Microsoft was favouring its own projects and silencing competitors, there would be an exodus (and possibly open them up to lawsuits).
Another concern is Microsoft is going to look at the source code of enterprise clients, potential competitors to Microsoft and steal its code. Once again, if Microsoft was ever caught stealing code the lawsuit would cost Microsoft billions in settlement fees and undo the work Nadella has put into changing Microsoft's image and mission.
While I agree that Microsoft has had a chequered history when it comes to acquisitions, anti-competitive behaviour and other numerous confidence shattering actions, the new Microsoft is unlike the old Microsoft.
You only have to look at all of the good Microsoft is doing in open source to see the kind of company they're trying to be:
- Open sourcing PowerShell
- Releasing the fantastic open source web IDE Visual Studio Code
- Open sourcing the Microsoft Edge Javascript Engine
- And in one of the largest moves ever, partnered with Canonical to bring Ubuntu into Windows 10
Am I going to give Microsoft a chance? Absolutely. They say they'll let Github run as its own entity and I believe them, as they have shown in their LinkedIn acquisition (they've been hands-off).
Even Nadella seems to understand the importance and concern of the acquisition:
Most importantly, we recognize the responsibility we take on with this agreement
We are committed to being stewards of the GitHub community, which will retain its developer-first ethos, operate independently and remain an open platform. We will always listen to developer feedback and invest in both fundamentals and new capabilities.
Do you want to know the real time bomb and potential enemy of the industry that everyone seemingly gives a free pass to? Amazon.
People fail to realise that Amazon and its Web Services division absolutely dominates the industry. There is a good chance that your favourite web services are being hosted on AWS, this kind of centralisation from a company with questionable motives is a concern to me.
Did you know Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post and is in bed with the US government (which also uses Amazon Web Services) to the point where Amazon created a private secure offering of AWS for government agencies? Where is the outrage?
Microsoft is all in on open source and given all of the good they have done since Satya took over, the least we can do is give Microsoft a chance.
Stop acting like a bunch of children.
My Personal Feelings
Hey, check me out, I am talking about my feelings, jk, these are my opinions. I am not a fan of anything Microsoft; their software is sub-par, their OS is a conglomerate of *NIX based systems and their business practices questionable at times, they are the personification of the Borg.
Microsoft's CEO
I do agree that Satya is performing better than his predecessor, but let's be frank here, an ape could outperform Balmer, he is an absolute clown. I for one cannot trust MS with running Github, I know as an entity, they are the top contributor too many projects but this is too little too late for many old skool coders. The innate and intense passion within the open source community runs deep, as does the disdain for outfits like Microsoft.
Microsoft's Other Ventures
Agreed, Linkin is still an excellent platform, Azure is outpacing AWS, but that is not because Microsoft adds benefit actively, AWS are shooting themselves in the foot with the piss poor connectivity options (Single cryptographic phase 2 possibilities for L2L VPN's as an example) and the interface presented at login is a joke.Azure is just the best of the worst right now so nothing to do with Microsoft's efforts, just AWS's fallings.
My Next Steps
I will be moving to a private GitLab setup as are many of my peers and colleagues. I assure you I am not acting like a spoilt brat here, I simply cannot willingly support Microsoft if it can be avoided, they have caused me too much pain and lost time over my 20-year career.
Anyway, great thought-provoking post.
Great comment @aclarkuk82 and understandably for long-term developers, Microsoft's previous anti-consumer/competition and open source stifling actions are still fresh in their minds. For me, I am only a little over ten years in my career, so Microsoft's previous actions are before my time.
Although, admittedly, I still remember having to make things work in Internet Explorer 5.5, 6.0 and 7.0. A dark period in my development career when Microsoft really set the industry back quite a few years. To their credit, Microsoft is responsible for AJAX, so that was a forward-thinking effort on their part.
If people want to leave, I think that's fine. But I think applying Microsoft's past actions to their present self is holding a grudge so-to-speak given they've made serious efforts to turn things around and embrace open source. Eventually, it gets to the point where the only way you can heal is to move on.
As someone who has been using Github since 2010, I have seen first-hand its decline. They've failed to innovate and they've also been losing money the last couple of years as well. I think Microsoft is well-suited to turning Github around in the cashflow department. The UI of Github is in desperate need of an overhaul, it looks really outdated and it's clunky in comparison to Gitlab and Bitbucket.
One thing I didn't talk about in my post is Github has become dangerously big. It is a centralised Git hosting platform and a company offering free repositories and struggling to be profitable in the cashflow department is a recipe for disaster. The way Github was running just wasn't sustainable in the long-term, a buyer like Microsoft can integrate into its existing services (MSDN subscription, Azure, etc) and offer value to attract enterprise customers.
So the good thing about some moving to Gitlab and others staying is that it makes Github less of a liability. Instead of everyone relying on one service (which has been routinely attacked over the years mostly in the form of DDoS attacks) we are now spreading things out and that's a good thing. I see Github as a bank for code and having one bank is bad and having multiple banks is good.
As always, fair clear and concise rebuttal.
It is always a pleasure talking with you sir.
STOP