Microsoft sent shivers down the spines of millions of developers when it announced a surprise purchase of the code repository GitHub for a whopping $7.5 billion stock trade. The acquisition has many programmers worried that the software giant will run operations contrary to GitHub’s traditionally open source and community-focused mission. What will that mean for the 28 million developers contributing to more than 85 million repositories on GitHub?
Microsoft promises they will stay committed to the open source ethos of GitHub and encourage the collaboration for which it is renowned. But the company also states that it intends to create monetization opportunities through “our direct sales and partner channels and access to Microsoft’s global cloud infrastructure and services.” Most likely this would be monetizing the metadata from projects to allow themselves and others buying their third-party data to study workflows and access patterns for insight into which projects earn the most contributors.
Perhaps the most worrisome aspect of the GitHub deal was that no one saw it coming. Rumors of the deal surfaced just 48 hours before Microsoft announced it was complete. That, coupled with the high price tag, was enough to send developers into panic mode.
In the aftermath, approximately 13,000 projects abandoned GitHub and moved to competitor GitLab. The top trending repository on the service was named “GitHub Evacuation Center,” which helped facilitate the migration of projects from GitHub.
Microsoft’s 180 on Open Source
Microsoft claims that it now embraces the open source community. Under the leadership of CEO Satya Nadella, the company has released the source code for several major projects to open source repositories. These include the Microsoft Edge JavaScript engine, Visual Studio Code, and PowerShell.
“Microsoft is all-in on open source,” the company insists. “We have been on a journey with open source, and today we are active in the open source ecosystem, we contribute to open source projects, and some of our most vibrant developer tools and frameworks are open source.” They urge skeptics to “judge us by the actions we have taken in the recent past, our actions today, and in the future” rather than their aggressive former approach to open source competitors.
Developers Weigh In
As the dust settles on the GitHub deal, several prominent community members have voiced their take.
“The GitHub acquisition was sadly inevitable,” says software engineer and active open source project contributor Victor Felder. “It could have been Google, Apple, Amazon, or Facebook. It doesn’t really matter. In my opinion, the problem is making these tech giants concentrate even more power.”
Others like Kyle Simpson, a Javascript author and trainer, have concerns about Microsoft selling project metadata. “I am worried about what ways they may try to monetize all the data they now have about how developers work and relate to each other, how software projects are built and maintained,” he explains. “GitHub was a very good steward of this important data, and we trusted them. Maybe too much. But I’m not sure I trust Microsoft on that front.”
In fact, GitHub puts out a transparency report each year that documents repositories that were removed and the reasons for removal. GitHub has also in the past fought against censorship by the Chinese government, which demanded removal of some politically sensitive repositories.
It is hard to imagine that Microsoft will maintain a commitment to individual freedom and privacy, especially when it has investments in problematic countries like China. Similarly, it’s questionable how Microsoft will address repositories – like those that contain code to create Xbox emulators – that can ostensibly eat into their profit margins.
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While these fears are legitimate, one could also point out that Microsoft has a decent track record of leaving its most expensive acquisitions intact. The company purchased Minecraft and LinkedIn, and the changes to both have been minimal.
If nothing else, developers are protective of their ethos and the sanctity of their pet projects. If Microsoft does intend to shake things up too far over the line, expect nothing less than an outright revolt from a solid portion of the GitHub community.
