Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft GitHub Exposé — Part V — Why Nat Friedman is Leaving GitHub

Series parts:

  1. Microsoft GitHub Exposé — Part I — Inside a Den of Corruption and Misogynists
  2. Microsoft GitHub Exposé — Part II — The Campaign Against GPL Compliance and War on Copyleft Enforcement
  3. Microsoft GitHub Exposé — Part III — A Story of Plagiarism and Likely Securities Fraud
  4. Microsoft GitHub Exposé — Part IV — Mr. MobileCoin: From Mono to Plagiarism... and to Unprecedented GPL Violations at GitHub (Microsoft)
  5. YOU ARE HERE


GitHub: Where everything comes to die



Summary: Without giving away any spoilers or teasers, in today's part we explain one of the more problematic things that Mr. Friedman did, likely ending his 3-year tenure and even ending his whole professional career because of Hubris, stupidity, and insensitivity towards women's issues

THE last part, Part IV, dealt with one among many GitHub scandals. Days later GitHub's CEO “resigned” (most likely pushed out with a couple of week's notice). We shall show later in the series that Microsoft had many reasons to dissociate from him as soon as possible, for the same reasons it distanced itself from Bill Gates last year. They'd rather say, "he no longer works for us..." (or, "we already took the appropriate action")

"We'll leave all the pertinent details aside until (much) later parts because we'd rather focus on legal and technical issues first."In today's part we turn our attention to something we did not plan last week. We sort of leap forward a bit and give a glimpse/preview into what likely led to the downfall of Mr. Friedman, who hired a friend of his from Team Mono. We'll leave all the pertinent details aside until (much) later parts because we'd rather focus on legal and technical issues first.

Those who read our IRC logs meticulously likely know already that, in the words of one source, "Nat [Friedman] hired a domestic abuser to run Copilot and Codespaces [...] knowingly [and] he's his best friend and has a widespread reputation for abusing women, sometimes men at work [...] worked at the original Xamarin [...] that's part of how Nat got the job" (at Microsoft)

The source said "it seemed the point of your article that I came across was the concentration of power through strangling open source [...] my questions is should we putting this power in the hands of someone is historically abusive to women?"

"We're quite certain that this is one among several contributing factors attributable to the exit of Mr. Friedman, effective next week.""Miguel de Icaza is more sympathetic to my situation and has been quite open about the character of Nat and Alex, but does not want to speak out publicly," the source added. "I don't know what your sympathies are towards feminist causes, but to me this situation speaks volumes to the characters at the helm of Github's future."

As we noted here last year, Tom Preston-Werner (co-founder of GitHub) left GitHub after harassment connected to his partner, so there's a bit of a theme here.

We're quite certain that this is one among several contributing factors attributable to the exit of Mr. Friedman, effective next week.

In the next part (scheduled for publication on Friedman's last day) we'll look at various other scandals and eventually we'll get around to some of the gory details associated with Copilot, an enabler of GPL violations on a massive scale.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Microsoft-Sponsored Xenophobia and Nationalism
IBM is very similar in this regard
Tentative Summary of Things to Publish in Project 2030
I'll still be in my forties by then
 
Links 21/09/2025: "Hey Hi" (Hype) Under Fire, Fakes Identified; Tesla Burns Family
Links for the day
Google's Software is Malware and Malware in Mobile Devices
Originally posted by Rob Musial
Links 20/09/2025: Hegemony Coming to a Close, Luigi Mangione Ruled Not Terrorist
Links for the day
Gemini Links 21/09/2025: "Charlie Kirk Was a Hateful Piece of Shit" and Slop Code Attempted by Microsofter
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, September 20, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, September 20, 2025
Gemini Links 20/09/2025: Snowy Photos and utism is a Spectrum
Links for the day
Vintage is Sometimes Better
Why can't we get back to "simple" if (or where) "simple" means better?
Climate Breakdown Means We'll be Publishing More, Not Less
Press freedom will be a common, recurring theme
Our 5-Year Geminispace Anniversary is Coming Up
I still remember when Gemini Protocol was quite new
It's Right to Point Out Violence From the Right
Violence is a recurring theme
Web Browsers That "Do Hey Hi" (AI)
State-of-the-art plagiarism or "autocomplete on steroids" (not coined by us, nevertheless a nice description) don't have much/any prospect
Links 20/09/2025: Hardware Projects in View, Some Independent Publishers About Russia Prosper After Cheeto Cuts Funding
Links for the day
Gemini Links 20/09/2025: Options and TV Time Machine
Links for the day
Links 20/09/2025: Retrocomputer, Antique Phone Experience, and More
Links for the day
Links 20/09/2025: Internet Shutdowns, Media Censorship, and Climate Worries
Links for the day
About 700 New Gemini Capsules in 13 Months (or 54 Per Month)
4.8K would represent a 20% increase
Rust People: Drain the Swap, You're Holding It Wrong
Does Rust make sense?
Techrights the Name Turns 15
About 6 weeks from now we turn 19
Microsoft is Running Out of Time and Floating Fake Figures, Fake Projects, Fake Narratives, Fake Excuses
Also, a lot of Microsoft's "revenue" claims are circular financing (i.e. Microsoft buying from itself, which means Ponzi-like fraud)
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, linuxconfig.org, and Plagiarised Phoronix
Many articles out there are nowadays fake
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, September 19, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, September 19, 2025
Gemini Links 20/09/2025: Navigating the Pressures of Modern Life and SpellBinding Accidentally Wrote Another Gemini Server
Links for the day
Links 19/09/2025: Press Freedom Dying in US, Anti-Austerity Strikes in France, and Alan Rusbridger to Leave 'Prospect'
Links for the day
European Patent Office Illegally Gutting and Outsourcing Its Functions, Acting Like an Above-the-Law Commercial Business (It Won't Stop at Formalities Officers (FOs) and Classification Slop at the EPO)
breaking/violating laws and conventions
Offloading to the Sister Site
In the interest of not overwhelming readers
Links 19/09/2025: Coffee Club and "SpellBinding is Now Absurdly Fast"
Links for the day
Links 19/09/2025: Lobbyist of American GAFAM Becomes Data Protection Commissioner in Europe
Links for the day
Links 19/09/2025: Media Freedom Ceases to Exist in US, "Consider Dropping Twitter/X"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 19/09/2025: Thinking and Insect Bites
Links for the day
Microsoft E.E.E.: Git Will Now (or Very Soon) Fully Depend on Rust, Which is Controlled by Microsoft
Microsoft now makes Git dependent on Rust, or making Git dependent on GitHub, which is proprietary
The Right to Punch People (Apparently)
At Brett Wilson, Brett's job title is "Head of Crime" and Wilson normalises calls for violence
Slop or Fake Articles Have Turned Linux Journal From a Pioneering/Trailblazing "Linux" Magazine Into a Nuisance
some sites with former reputation - good reputation - turn into cesspools
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, September 18, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, September 18, 2025