Bitcoin Forum

Bitcoin core developers are among those reacting angrily to news Microsoft has reportedly acquired GitHub in a deal worth at least $2 billion.

BITCOIN DEVELOPERS CALL FOR GITHUB EXIT
The takeover, which anonymous sources claim should see an official announcement later Monday, has led to multiple calls to remove Bitcoin activity from the code repository.

Github had previously stated it would strive to remain independent, even planning an IPO in 2017. The company’s CEO and co-founder Chris Wanstrath resigned in August, with executives “struggling” to find a suitable replacement since, Business Insider reported when it first broke the news Friday.

Bitcoin development has traditionally used the website as a global participation environment. Unsurprisingly, news of a corporate takeover failed to impress community figures, who demanded Bitcoin activity be taken elsewhere.

“Yes,” Bitcoin core developer Wladimir J. van der Laan wrote on Twitter when asked whether developers should abandon GitHub permanently.

“No real hurry, but I expect this is the beginning of a long painful road of (GitHub) toward obsolence (sic), possibly ending the same way as codeplex did,” he explained.

To be clear: many bitcoin core contributors already preferred moving to independently hosted infrastructure in the long run. This may or may not speed it up.

RIVAL SERVICE SEES 10X GROWTH
Others continued the narrative that Microsoft would stunt the project’s potential.

“There is no GitHub replacement, we all know (Microsoft) will run it into the ground,” one Twitter comment reads in response to criticism of the potential bill Microsoft paid for ownership.

In future, Bitcoin development could move to rival independent service GitLab, a trending hashtag #movingtogitlab already doing the rounds online.

On Sunday, two days after the Microsoft rumors began circulating, the company reported ten times the usual number of projects migrating amid efforts to keep up with demand.

“We’re scaling our fleet to try to stay up,” officials announced, reproducing data confirming the giant spike in migration from GitHub.

http://bitcoinist.com/microsoft-buy-github-bitcoin-devs-exit/

I just logged on to my account & saw the news - this is sickening. Never thought I'd see the day Github sell out to the devil.

Words fail me.  Let the exodus begin.....

People still think that Microsoft is the same as 10 years ago. And they do not see that there could be a possibility of this purchase being positive. Besides, where would they move? Sourceforge is horrible. Maybe Gitlab.
What is important is if a migration movement does occur, that it is discussed with the community rather than a decision taken exclusively by the project leaders. I'm not just talking about Bitcoin. But today, the entire ecosystem of cryptocurrencies is based on GitHub. I hope decisions on this change will keep in mind that a wrong decision can hurt everyone.

I can't agree more, but in the same way I can't say that I am surprised. I strongly believe that in the coming years we'll see the corporations we currently dislike try to take over Coinbase, Bitstamp, Gemini, Xapo, Blockchain, etc. Important is the fact that everything in this market is low of value, where the few billion valuations of certain crypto related companies are an absolute joke for traditional corporations. Microsoft alone has more than $40 billion in cash to throw around with, and then I haven't even counted how much more they can buy when combining it with MSFT shares....

I'm in the process of importing everything over to Gitlab right now - looks like they're struggling to keep up with demand though, their site & import tools are pretty slow due to the mass exodus. GOOD - no dev worth their salt will trust Github while they're under Microsoft surveillance radar.

RIP Github.

It is already confirmed that Microsoft is buying GitHub for $7.5 billion. What I don't understand is why are some people so angry about that? Can someone elaborate on what Microsoft can possibly do to kill GitHub as we know it? Because in my opinion they will do all in their power to keep the platform alive with its more than 28 million developers. They surely don't want an exodus of any kind otherwise they wouldn't pay $7.5 billion to acquire GitHub. I think they just want their name was associated with it for promotional purposes, that's all. CMIIW.

Why would MS want to kill Nokia? Or Skype? Or Office? Or Windows (lol). But they either did or are in the process of doing so, Windows will be no different to owning an X Box or a Nintendo console once MS have completed their latest "tech" roadmap

I abandoned Nokia and Skype years ago but unfortunately I still need Windows and office :P
Microsoft is acting like an old dude collecting classic stuff and keeping it in his closet with as little as possible renovation...

For github cannot bitcoin.org/bitcointalk.org create its own repository?

They do have the power and the capability on buying up things on they want but questions on mind why MS do make such step and spending up $7.5B. There would be always a purpose neither on positive or negative. I cant blame if bitcoin devs call for exit on this one. Just like been said above i dont even trust when you are under on MS surveilance.

The only good thing is that just like governments with their regulations, these developments help pushing everything Bitcoin related towards more decentralization. How long would it otherwise take to change? Years?

Peer to peer markets are literally exploding in usage, decentralized exchanges are becoming more and more mainstream, decentralized applications are becoming more and more mainstream, and so forth.

Everything we go through right now will benefit everyone here in the long term. Governments and the mainstream tech companies shoot themselves in the foot with how they try to own the market. It works against them.

There's nothing stopping you using Linux and Libre Office, even if it's for your job (unless it's a company laptop, of course). The secret: provide native Office files, and just don't tell anyone ;)



They can't seem to make a success out of anything they buy up either. Seriously, alot of damage could be done to MS right now if people just stopped buying computers with Windows pre-installed, there's more choice than there used to be in that regard these days.
 


There's talk of doing something like that already, I think Gitlab and Gitea would be the main options. It's good this happened, "decentralise all the things" etc.

Microsoft has one of the worst software policies but the real threat is on copyleft. Microsoft might require all copyleft software, that they host on Github, to make them exempt from the copyleft, GPL terms.

That is very dangerous for FOSS.

The migration from GitHub to other platforms like Gitlab and Gitea and Sourceforge will only make those platforms stronger and more popular. In the end, GitHub will implode and Microsoft will have bought a platform that are not as popular as before.

Nothing is stopping our talented developers and out huge Bitcoin community to fund and develop our own version of a independent and decentralized repository platform.  ::)

Thank you, guys for all of your replies. Trust me, I don't work for Microsoft. :) I don't even use any of their products, as far as I know. And yes, I remember that when I was using Windows the experience had been disappointing. I'm just so much opposed to any kind of conspiracy theories, and especially to the "Enemy Above" kind, that every time I hear someone saying something against the USA or any big company like Coca-Cola, Apple or Microsoft I start to argue and sometimes I overplay my hand or even cross the line. I'm really sorry for that, especially if someone was offended. Thanks for correcting me and I appreciate your explanations. I think you are right most likely and if Microsoft will not change its approach to technologies in the nearest future, then it is bad news.

everything people dislike about Microsoft tends to be based on facts, not theories. And companies like Microsoft stick fairly closely to the law, so there's little chance you'll ever catch them doing anything illegal, I don't know why you'd feel the need to dismiss such a thing

Microsoft Virus strikes once again. And this is the same company that made win 95 and 98 that I used to run everything for years as a child and then teenager. They had their good and bad products but their newest windows and office editions are really a disaster. I haven't seen anybody using their newest products for some time, everybody switched to open office and internet explorer has long been only used in jokes. I agree that people should switch and let github die, especially since there are similar projects. What will Microsoft do then? Buy out Gitlab too?

I agree, there's no need to dismiss such a thing. I think, from now on Microsoft will be excluded from a list of big corporations which I normally protect when they are attacked. Your words, the words of others in this thread and my own experience that I remembered have convinced me that Microsoft can actually mismanage things. I still think that big companies are not that bad as their attackers think of them but apparently Microsoft is an exception.

It comes down to whether they're good for the market place or bad for the market place IMO. Corporations are good in one way: they're very smart when it comes to minimising their tax bills, which I thoroughly approve of (although I wish they'd be more aggressive TBH, maybe deteriorating gov finances + use of Bitcoin could help there). The bad with corporations is that they often become monopolies and behave anti-competitively (Microsoft being a good example). But the answer is for every business to become a corporation (or just don't register as a business anywhere), there's nothing stopping anyone from opening up a bunch of Caribbean shell companies to avoid taxes, then the playing field evens out more. It's impossible to stop small island nations setting up liberal legislation and tax policies for big companies to use, islands are trying to compete in a global marketplace too.

Destroying Skype and Nokia was not enough. I pray for GitHub.   :-\  :-\  :-\

we shall see as soon as they start changing their terms of service ... Facebook did it with WhatsApp, sucked out all the user data (messages, contacts, everything) into Facebook servers even if you had never had anything to do with them. Microsoft's lawyers are going to want to get their $7.5 billion somehow and 'monetising' Github will look a whole lot like dataraping the developers brains that they have selflessly placed into the trust of Github in my maybe naive estimation.

Also why did the Github owners agree to be paid in Microsoft stock instead of real money? There might also be arrangements in the deal for when and how much the sellers are allowed to sell the stocks hehehe.

I think it's safe to say that Microsoft offered them a much lower price in cash (potentially billions lower), which is why they went for the stocks.

It's actually a very smart move from Microsoft with how its stocks are hovering around their all time high levels, where in current state of the stock market, a correction might be due. In other words, Microsoft wisely hedged a potential downfall of its own stocks by acquiring GitHub. By the time the stock market correction has taken place, they will buy back their stocks at much lower levels. It's a game that's being played, where the wealthiest always have the main advantage.

It's basically the same as when you try to sell your car to a dealer. Cash value is always lower than trade value.

Definitely.

@1Referee. I reckon it would be smarter for the Github founders to only accept a deal if the payment was in bitcoins. They might receive billions lower but they will make billions more by holding bitcoin than holding Microsoft stock hehehe.

Yes. So whats next? Decentralized repositories obviously.

So, GitLab it is? Or will we see a resurgence in SourceForge?


Yeah, it's generally good business sense if you're not looking to liquidate and cash out. Microsoft stocks still have a lot of potential to grow over the long-term, and can find ready buyers should a later need come to liquidate that. With MS pursuing blockchain itself, there's no reason to think GH's acquisition will also propel the stocks later on.

Smart moves can be expected from MS, Bill Gates or not, his acumen seems to have been inherited.

what makes you feel that Microsoft has no potential influence on bitcoin price?
if it really really wanted ,it could buyout a fair share of coins and do whatever they desired with the price afterwards

Microsoft Market Cap:
780.31B
Bitcoin market cap:
131 B

Ultimately, it seems like decentralized repositories will be the best long term solution. Apparently, establishing new code-signing and merging protocols will take some time and effort, so I wonder if it makes sense to adopt a centralized replacement in the meantime. It sounds like it's not an urgent issue (https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues/13387#issuecomment-394210047).

GitHub itself and the shareholders don't have much to do with Bitcoin, so it wouldn't work. Accepting Bitcoin would mean they expose themselves to the risk of devaluation of their Bitcoins, and that risk isn't something you want to be taking with a multi billion dollar company. There is simply too much at stake.

Another factor why such a deal doesn't work on this level is that Microsoft would have to obtain billions worth of Bitcoin one way or another, which is a rather difficult task. Assuming the cash settled value would be close to $5 billion, it would require Microsoft to buy like ~660,000BTC. You can't even buy 100,000BTC through exchanges due to how thin the market is. It would require high level OTC connections, and then it's still incredibly difficult to come close to that number of coins.

I'm sure it was more money in the long run if the stocks hold out, mainly they do it because they don't have to come off the cash and the other party gains because they get more then the cash value but normally have a term of how long they must keep the stocks before they can sell usually a year or two.

I cannot argue with your reply because I reckon it is a bad one.

I any case, it is not as simple as comparing the marketcap of a public company and the marketcap of bitcoin. That would be stupid. Also, what will Microsoft use to buy a fair share of bitcoins to do whatever they desired with its price? Stock options? :P

because you think that bitcoin in itself is something independent and this almost religious belief clouds your judgement
I simply stated that Microsoft can buy a fair share of bitcoins,if they wanted
use them to buy GITHUB or do whatever,including manipulating the price of bitcoin
it is simple,figures are figures
one figure is bigger than the other
I could simplify it more for you,to make it easier,just ask
no,this is not stupid,unlike your remark
what did Microsoft use to buy GITHUB?

You say Microsoft can, as if it was that simple. Microsoft is a public company that needs the share holders to vote to make any major decision.

How would it look if Microsoft's CEO says Hello, we will buy bitcoin today. Do you really think the shareholders and the board of directors of a multibillion dollar company will approve?

Also, yes please explain how simple it is for Microsoft to buy a fair share bitcoins using stock options.

If the payment was in Bitcoins, Github founders will surely accept it and trade daily. That will even make them more profitable. Maybe a trillion when traded all in at a time. hehehehe

Well that is sad, I think developers want freedom from the big companies, hope that they do Github justice instead of the likes of Nokia and skype, as for Bitcoin, they are not that affected as they are only using Github for its ease of access and community and not source code mentioned by one of the Bitcoin Developers in squatters link.