What's in store for Minds apps using Microsoft's newly acquired GitHub version control platform?
""Embrace, extend, and extinguish", also known as "Embrace, extend, and exterminate", is a phrase that the U.S. Department of Justice found was used internally by Microsoft to describe its strategy for entering product categories involving widely used standards, extending those standards with proprietary capabilities, and then using those differences to strongly disadvantage its competitors."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend,_and_extinguish
On Jun 4, 2018 Microsoft bought GitHub for $7.5 billion gaining access to GitHub's 28 million developers, representing 1.5 million companies and their application repositories. The interest is hardly 'out of the blue', Microsoft has been a customer of GitHub for years, slowly adding its VS scripts and granting 'open source' access to other users on the version control platform. Most users welcomed these resources, but the mood changed 180° on Jun 4, when the sell-out was revealed. GitHub's former CEO, was on the receiving end of criticism, as were Microsoft reps announcing the buy-out on Twitter.
Minds apps also use GitHub repository and version control services. Should Minds be concerned about Microsoft's 'embrace, extend, extinction' strategy? Perhaps. Some assure that Microsoft isn't the company it was 15 years ago. I'd agree with that.
The Windows notices of updates don't arrive with an automatic reboot in the midst of my 10 hour renders anymore, but there are subtler, less obvious activities - like Skype transferring 6.5MB of data over my network during a period of 3 hours, 41 minutes of operating time in the month of August. I NEVER use Skype. Similarly, Photos, Store, Spotify, Weather, News, NetFlix, People and other apps loaded and automatically granted background operating rights by Win10 were using up my network time and transferring God knows what to and from my PC. That's not the sort of thing an honest, fair, respecting software provider does, if you ask me.
Microsoft might be less militant today, but they are still working the "embrace, extend, and extinguish" strategy. Something tells me the GitHub OctoCat is going to learn a lesson or two from her new Big Brother. I predict it won't be long before she grows a few more tentacles that reach into places they don't belong.
Just days ago on Sep 14, 2018, Microsoft reached out to the European Commission, asking that the regulatory review be wrapped up and the Commission make a decision about their stance regarding antitrust issues related to the GitHub buyout. The Commission expects to deliver an antitrust ruling by October 19. Perhaps, like so many other GitHub users, Minds developers might consider migrating to BitBucket, GitLab or SourceForce.
See links below for Twitter feed running commentaries on the buyout news.
EU antitrust regulators to decide on Microsoft's GitHub acquisition by October 19
Sep 17, 2018
By Jay Bonggolto @@JayarDecenella
https://www.neowin.net/news/eu-antitrust-regulators-to-decide-on-microsofts-github-acquisition-by-october-19
The comments on the following Twitter feeds reveal a great deal of concern from developers using the GitHub application development version control platform. Many have or will be migrating to BitBucket, GitLab or SourceForce.
Twitter - Miguel de Icaza @migueldeicaza
4 Jun 2018
Satya looked at Microsoft’s bill from all the code we host on GitHub and figured it would be cheaper to buy the https://twitter.com/migueldeicaza/status/1003626301977026561
Twitter - Satya Nadella @satyanadella
4 Jun 2018
Microsoft + GitHub = Empowering Developers
https://twitter.com/satyanadella/status/1003622781831950336
Twitter - GitHub @github
4 Jun 2018
Hear more on today's announcement from our co-founder and CEO @defunkt
https://twitter.com/github/status/1003627993321705472
A bright future for GitHub
Jun 04, 2018
by defunct
https://blog.github.com/2018-06-04-github-microsoft/
Microsoft to acquire GitHub for $7.5B to solidify developer ties
June 4, 2018
by Lori Grunin
More than 1.5 million companies use it as a software development repository.
https://www.cnet.com/news/microsoft-acquire-github-7-5-billion-stock-solidify-developer-ties/