Microsoft bought out GitHub: So what?

Do we still need to introduce GitHub?

As you know, GitHub is The platform for hosting and code versioning. All developers know it, and 28 million are registered. GitHub is the largest platform of its kind in the world. We even upload the WAPT Community code to GitHub so that it can be improved by the community if they wish to help. Since Monday, the disconcerting announcement for some and insignificant for others has fallen: Microsoft bought GitHub for $7.5 billion. Why is this announcement being debated so much? The free community has been panicking since last Monday and 50,000 of the 80 million projects loaded have already been transferred to other platforms such as GitLab for example.

Why did Microsoft buyout GitHub?

With the arrival of Microsoft’s new CEO in 2014, Satya Nadella, the company has opened up to the free software market by ‘opening’ the code for some of their projects. Microsoft is also the first company to contribute to GitHub, before Facebook and Docker. Microsoft’s ambition is to become the developer’s toolbox, and it joined the Linux foundation in 2016.

The purchase of GitHub allows Microsoft to integrate  its many services to bring it closer to the developer community. This acquisition also contributes to Microsoft’s “Open Source friendly” image.

Shared opinions on the situation…

Since the announcement of the purchase, opinions have been divided on the subject. Some GitHub enthusiast developers see this as good news while some free software supporters are fleeing GitHub.

If we assume that Microsoft will invest to improve the platform, this acquisition is a good point for developers. They will be able to benefit from interoperability with the dev tools of Microsoft. Moreover, Microsoft is already the most active company on the platform, which, as a reminder, is the result of a commercial company. As seen from the reactions on the Internet, a large part of the GitHub community does not seem dissatisfied with this acquisition.

But there are still the irreducible people who see Microsoft as the enemy of Open Source, a label that sticks to its skin even though it is no longer the case. Microsoft has been contributing to Open Source for years.  CEO Satya Nadella would have no interest in making GitHub an advertising platform for its products because it would scare off its users. The second issue raised is competition, with companies like Google or IBM storing their code on the platform now owned by their competitor.