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Microsoft acquires GitHub for some loose change

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You've probably seen all the rumours and now it's official with the Microsoft announcement, they're acquiring GitHub.

I'm only slightly joking about loose change too, with the deal being $7.5 billion in Microsoft stock. Sounds like a huge amount to us mere mortals, but to Microsoft that's still probably change that fell down the back of their massive sofa.

I know this isn't specifically gaming news, but it's a pretty big piece of news to take into consideration. Why? Well, with so many open source games, toolkits and many more important open source projects being hosted only on GitHub, it may cause alarm to some developers. However, I'm trying to look at this with a cool head. I've already seen talks of mass migrations to GitLab, for example:

We're seeing 10x the normal daily amount of repositories #movingtogitlab https://t.co/7AWH7BmMvM We're scaling our fleet to try to stay up. Follow the progress on https://t.co/hN0ce379SC and @movingtogitlab

— GitLab (@gitlab) June 3, 2018

With that out of the way, let's look at this key part of the announcement I think is important for people to make sure they read:

GitHub will retain its developer-first ethos and will operate independently to provide an open platform for all developers in all industries. Developers will continue to be able to use the programming languages, tools and operating systems of their choice for their projects — and will still be able to deploy their code to any operating system, any cloud and any device.

Emphasis mine.

So, business as usual for now. Sure, the Microsoft of old used the term "Embrace, extend, and extinguish", so it does pay to remain cautious, but I wouldn't go completely nuts over this.

I mean, look at Mojang. Microsoft acquired them back in 2014 and has anything actually changed—no. The Java edition of Mojang is still full steam ahead and works fine on Linux as always. I heard only recently they took on more staff, one of which said they would be specifically taking a look at getting their new launcher officially supported on Linux (I can't back that up right now, because I'm a moron and didn't copy it down at the time).

GitHub is still very useful and likely will remain so, but I am quite a fan of GitLab personally, which you can even run yourself (always the better choice to do—if you can). Just remember, don't keep all your eggs in one basket. It's going to be very interesting to see what the open source movement does as a result of this.

What are your thoughts?

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Misc
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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69 comments
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numasan Jun 4, 2018
Like many here I don't trust Microsoft, living through their horrible and aggressive behaviour in the Gates/Ballmer era as a Linux user. Even today Microsoft is as two-faced as ever, with the "We love Linux" comment and what seems like trying too hard adopting the "open source" business model. They desperately want to appear as a "progressive" and "hip" company, while many of us old enough know that Microsoft is still just as conservative and monopolistic as ever. Unfortunately Microsoft has had time on its hands, and I see a new generation of developers who believe MS is actually a driving force behind Linux and Open Source, because "Free stuff!", while dismissing the whole point of GNU. Perception, it seems, can be bought..

I'm calling it now: Canonical will be acquired by Microsoft in the near future.
elmapul Jun 4, 2018
Quoting: antisolTalk about how "it could be good for github", and I'll talk about how skype used to have end-to-end encryption and a usable Linux client.

to be fair, skype isnt usable on windows either, everyone is ditching it in favor of discord
Mezron Jun 5, 2018
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If it's Microsoft related, I stay away from it. It has served me well both in personal peace and in the finance department.
Kimyrielle Jun 5, 2018
I don't even care about MS in particular being involved here. But if people think mergers of this scale are a good thing, they need to start reading economics textbooks. It's not. If we want functional markets, we can't allow corporations to become that large. But I guess we still believe in this "regulation is bad!" rubbish. Until they day when the corporations start to regulate us.

Not that they don't already.
slaapliedje Jun 5, 2018
Quoting: KimyrielleI don't even care about MS in particular being involved here. But if people think mergers of this scale are a good thing, they need to start reading economics textbooks. It's not. If we want functional markets, we can't allow corporations to become that large. But I guess we still believe in this "regulation is bad!" rubbish. Until they day when the corporations start to regulate us.

Not that they don't already.

Remember when they were on the brink of being split up? Yeah that should be brought back...

I wonder if Apple was split into iPhone/Mac if the Mac would survive on its own.

But splitting MS into Office and Windows companies could have helped, not sure if we will ever know.
notinuse Jun 5, 2018
[quote=Dunc]
Quote... Look, on the other hand, at Hotmail. Or Nokia. Or Lionhead. Or Rare. Or Blue Ribbon Softworks. (“Who?” ... Exactly.)...

I think you meant Blue Ribbon Soundworks. I remember. And I agree with you.
monnef Jun 5, 2018
QuoteI mean, look at Mojang. Microsoft acquired them back in 2014 and has anything actually changed—no. The Java edition of Mojang is still full steam ahead and works fine on Linux as always. I heard only recently they took on more staff, one of which said they would be specifically taking a look at getting their new launcher officially supported on Linux (I can't back that up right now, because I'm a moron and didn't copy it down at the time).
IIRC they said that the Java version (from Mojang) is gonna die and be replaced by their MS monetized C++ "better" version (essentially killing all those remarkable Java-based mods). I read that community quite hates MS team (which resides in other continent that Mojang) and don't really want to have anything with them. I stopped developing Minecraft mods partly because of MS. I don't really want to support them (e.g. paid skins in MS version, original Minecraft has free custom skins from beginning).

I would not count Minecraft being a M$ success. They only haven't killed it just yet.
Emazza Jun 5, 2018
Quoting: noxI...
I recently read that Vulkan games aren't allowed on the windows store (which they seem to be pushing devs and users towards). ...

Hi Nox,

Where did you read this?

Thanks!
nox Jun 5, 2018
Quoting: Emazza
Quoting: noxI...
I recently read that Vulkan games aren't allowed on the windows store (which they seem to be pushing devs and users towards). ...

Hi Nox,

Where did you read this?

Thanks!

Check out the comment thread for OpenGL and Mac, there is more about it there. But here is an issue related to it, with little progress:
https://github.com/KhronosGroup/Vulkan-Docs/issues/366

And a relevant quote:
Quoting: Guest
Quoting: sub
Quoting: noxHm, I find that kind of scary. Microsoft pushing their "no vulkan allowed" storefront, and no opengl on mac.

"no vulkan allowed" storefront.

You mean Vulkan API apps are not allowed on the Microsoft store?
Really? Can you please point me to a source?

It's part of the UWP model, where the Vulkan ICDs can't be loaded (edit: not entirely accurate, it's more of surface presentation bindings than unable to load drivers, --edit2: actually it seems native Vulkan driver can't be installed on Windows 10S as well, so....crap). This is what makes the Vulkan Portability Initiative so welcome, because developers can target Vulkan, with a wrapper shim library converting to DX12 without needing Vulkan drivers.

And the most recent conference regarding vulkan. They mentioned that nothing has been made yet regarding the shim library needed. Link

There is also this article which confirms it: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/02/vulkan-is-coming-to-macos-ios-but-no-thanks-to-apple/
QuoteWhile Windows, unlike macOS, does have Vulkan drivers from GPU companies, applications sold through the Microsoft Store are only permitted to use DirectX.
To finish off though, I'm not very knowledgeable about this, just echoing other lovely members of the GOL community :)


Last edited by nox on 5 June 2018 at 4:02 pm UTC
RossBC Jun 5, 2018
Guess it's proof everyone has a price.
Way I see it, gives Microsoft access to private repos, they otherwise wouldn't have access to which may have propriety stuff they want.
They wouldn't even have to tell anyone, microsoft has been known to steal many things over years. Microsoft was in the begginning even banned from releasing windows with a web browser years ago... so what did they do made it so the browser was integral for the os to work at the time.
Microsofts business practices have always been dodgy. They will be seeing this as an acquisition of IP, Unlimited access to anything on github at a guess.
Just like outlook years ago, free to use but not private in the slightest.
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