Github Hysteria! We’re All Going to Die!

Microsoft recently announced the purchase of Github. Within minutes of the announcement, there was (and continues to be) mass hysteria.

For readers of this blog, you’ll know that I’m a heavy user of (and promoter of) Github. They have built a remarkable service that over-delivers on value.

I don’t expect the transaction with Microsoft to change any of it. Here’s why.

• The Microsoft of Steve Ballmer (and perhaps Bill Gates) is long gone. Thank your personal god for that
• Satya Nadella has been consistently delivering more and better services, and has demonstrated time and again the commitment to open source. The .NET Core platform, the cornerstone of Microsoft technology is open source. Yes, Windows is not, but does that really matter anymore? Neither is MacOSX and yet we’re all pretty happy running around with our sticker-laden MacBook Pros. Google is steadily moving in the opposite direction with Android and other platforms.
• Who would you rather have in charge of this platform? Google? Facebook? Please. Microsoft doesn’t sell ads as a primary revenue stream, they’ve NEVER had a privacy issue with any of their core cloud services, and generally are on the right side of privacy for consumers of their services (Azure et al). The only other company I might trust with this valuable of an asset might be Salesforce.com for all of the same reasons I just mentioned.
• Why would they mess with such a valuable platform? They’ve kept their hands off LinkedIn, and Github is eminently more valuable than LinkedIn. Github is perhaps the most valuable treasure trove of technical assets on the planet, both code and developers.

I love what Nadella is doing with Microsoft, and I think it’s great that they’ve bought Github. Even if they “ruin” the service as everyone is now whinging about, it shows they’re serious about being a factor in unwinding the monopoly of the Big 4. We need competition to intensify as consumers of these services and, shockingly, Microsoft may be a dark horse to bet on.

Who would’ve thought that even five years ago?