07.18.20
Gemini version available ♊︎Free Software Will Stay Alive Until Microsoft Cuts Its Own Cord
Like it did CodePlex and countless other initiatives (Microsoft nowadays bribes projects and communities to defect and to keep the momentum of GitHub — at an exceptionally high price!)
Summary: Unless we put every piece of Free software in Microsoft’s own nest (all the eggs in Microsoft’s basket so to speak) we’ll always have fallbacks for the moment Microsoft pulls the plug on GitHub; at the moment Microsoft pumps a lot of money (losses) into GitHub to keep it running and it is even bribing projects to defect to GitHub (to maintain a false perception of momentum)
THE sites that are controlled by Microsoft are dying rapidly. As for GitHub, it’s losing a lot of money (operations and bribes — both subjects we covered here before). Microsoft worries that GitHub will be another CodePlex — a deserted place to be shut down along with everything and everyone in it.
“Microsoft worries that GitHub will be another CodePlex — a deserted place to be shut down along with everything and everyone in it.”Don’t believe us? Check Microsoft's own financial figures, which it shyly discloses between rounds of layoffs or waves of redundancies. GitHub isn’t doing well; a lot of the staff fled and we heard that projects too are reluctant to stay or to join (they apparently saw a decrease after the takeover, based in rumours we’ve heard). The accounts deleted by GitHub users? Microsoft keeps them to maintain the perception of size or 'health'.
While it’s true that parts of GNU are being outsourced to GitHub and Red Hat is foolish enough to still do the same, we’re also seeing more projects that set up their own instances, sometimes using GitLab (CE), and insist on using those instances alone. KDE and GNOME are among those; the FSF is apparently using GitLab as a ‘template’ for its new (or upcoming) own/self-hosted platform, augmenting — if not replacing perhaps — the SourceForge-derived one.
Microsoft has already admitted and spoke candidly, even on the public record, why it bought GitHub. It’s like a hostile takeover plan. Sadly, a lot of people are still in denial about it.
“Do not drown with Microsoft; let Microsoft drown on its own.”The way we see it, Microsoft is in a freefall while defrauding its shareholders; COVID-19 has led to four rounds of layoffs in just 1.5 months. Free software will win at the end (even on desktops/laptops), but let’s ensure Microsoft does not control it in any way. Delete GitHub, make the takeover another ‘write-off’ (like Nokia), and let’s get back to our communities that we trust and cherish.
Future generations will hear about this thing once known as “micro-soft”?
“Micro-what,” they’ll respond.
Exactly!
IBM has managed to survive about a century already (the exception, not the norm). In the process it even propped up Microsoft (because Bill Gates’ mother, a well-connected scion, demanded it). It’s not clear if Microsoft can live on to reach its 50th anniversary. When it goes under — as every company eventually does — let’s be sure we won’t lose ticket trackers etc. Don’t fall into the GitHub trap. Do not drown with Microsoft; let Microsoft drown on its own. Ask Mixer users how they feel this month. Or SoapBox users, Windows Mobile Users, Zune users, people with DRM-laden ‘books’ and many others before them. Microsoft is constantly abandoning platforms. It’s just what Microsoft does. █
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