GitHub, the world’s largest repository of code, is set to be acquired by Microsoft. The deal is to the tune of 7.5 billion dollars in Microsoft stock. That number is pretty astonishing, conisdering GitHub is just a storage service. What does this acquisition mean for code developers and designers? Will things be changing behind the scenes for the site?
Reservations by GitHub Developers
Microsoft is known as being a very corporate and profit-minded company. They didn’t grow to be one of the largest forces in tech by accident. With their reputation, developers have been somewhat nervous regarding this acquisition. GitLab, a major competitor of the code-hosting site, has seen a surge of users following the breaking of this news. Microsoft has attempted to reassure developers, however, stating that their intent is to keep the service just the way it is now.
Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, had a few words wit regards to the move. “Microsoft is a developer-first company, and by joining forces with GitHub we strengthen our commitment to developer freedom, openness and innovation… We recognize the community responsibility we take on with this agreement and will do our best work to empower every developer to build, innovate and solve the world’s most pressing challenges.”
What This Means for GitHub
On the corporate side, however, GitHub and Microsoft will both see some personnel changes. Nat Friedman, Microsoft’s current Corporate Vice President, will be installed at CEO of GitHub. GitHub’s current CEO, Chris Wantstrath, will become a “technical fellow” at Microsoft.
Regarding the acquisition, Wanstrath had this to say. “I’m extremely proud of what GitHub and our community have accomplished over the past decade, and I can’t wait to see what lies ahead. The future of software development is bright, and I’m thrilled to be joining forces with Microsoft to help make it a reality… Their focus on developers lines up perfectly with our own, and their scale, tools and global cloud will play a huge role in making GitHub even more valuable for developers everywhere.”
When Does this Happen?
The acquisition isn’t final yet, so these changes won’t take place immediately. A regulatory board will review the acquisition, but experts see little reason to block the move. Once it’s complete, developers can expect to see few changes on the user-end. However, Microsoft will likely turn the code repository into an Azure service, hosted on their cloud platform. Aside from that superficial change, though, Microsoft seems unlikely to change much else for fear of scaring off developers.
No comments so far.
Be first to leave comment below.