Future GitHub CEO talks Microsoft acquisition and developer concerns in Reddit AMA

Microsoft kicked off this calendar week with a bang, confirming that it is acquiring GitHub for $7.5 billion. In announcing the conquering, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said the move is some other footstep in the company'due south relatively newfound embrace of open source technologies, and Microsoft intends to let GitHub continue to operate independently. However, developers who utilise the service rightly had some questions and concerns.

Seeking to address some of the issues at the top of developers' minds, Microsoft'due south Nat Friedman, who is ready to go GitHub's new CEO when the deal closes later this year, sat down for a Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA session this calendar week. Friedman, who is currently Microsoft's Corporate Vice President of Developer Services, addressed a wide range of topics, including Microsoft'south plans for the service going forward. Here's a expect at some of the highlights.

Q: What is your response to people moving repos to GitLab and other providers?

Friedman:

Developers are contained thinkers and will always take a salubrious caste of skepticism, but I admit I was sad to see that some felt compelled to move their code. I take the responsibility of earning their trust seriously.

OTOH, I think it'due south swell that git gives developers the flexibility to move their repos similar this, and I hope those who have tried out other Git hosts in the past few days will keep an open listen and consider moving back once we've demonstrated our commitment to openness and made GitHub even better. If they cull not to move back, that's their prerogative and we celebrate developer choice fifty-fifty when developers don't choose us.

That said, the GitHub team reports that the set of users who take migrated or closed their accounts is extremely modest, and this is more than fabricated upwards for past the surge of new signups and new interest in GitHub this week.

Q: What plans does Microsoft have regarding GitHub'due south Atom text editor (which plain overlaps in target user with VS Code)?

Friedman:

Developers are actually item nearly their setup, and choosing an editor is one of the about personal decisions a programmer makes. Languages change, jobs change, you oft get a new calculator or upgrade your OS, but y'all usually pick an editor and abound with it for years. The concluding thing I would want to do is have that decision abroad from Atom users.

Atom is a fantastic editor with a healthy community, adoring fans, first-class design, and a promising foray into real-time collaboration. At Microsoft, nosotros already utilize every editor from Atom to VS Lawmaking to Sublime to Vim, and nosotros want developers to use any editor they prefer with GitHub.

So we volition continue to develop and back up both Atom and VS Lawmaking going forward.

Q: Volition this mean that some Microsoft product features (Visual Studio Live Share) volition eventually cross over to Atom every bit well?

Friedman:

VS Code and Cantlet actually share a ton of history and code, and Microsoft and GitHub have collaborated on the foundational technologies for years:

Well-nigh evidently, we work together on Electron, the mutual foundation for both editors. Microsoft began working with GitHub on Electron when information technology was announced in 2022 – when information technology was still called AtomShell and before VS Code was announced. Nosotros joined their Slack channels and participated in hackathons, and Microsoft has been a major correspondent to Electron ever since. We too use Electron in many other products...

Atom-ide adopted the  Language Server protocol  that we developed as office of VS Code. This allows sharing avant-garde language back up betwixt VS Code and Atom. The linguistic communication packs that Atom-ide supports all share the language servers with VS Lawmaking.

The Atom-ide community is also talking near adopting the  Debug Adapter protocol  which volition enable common debugger support between Atom and VS Lawmaking.

We're excited nearly the recent developments in real-time collaboration, and I expect Atom Teletype and VS Lawmaking Live Share to coordinate on protocols so that eventually developers using either editor can edit the same files together in real-fourth dimension.

So, I love the years of collaboration between Microsoft and GitHub that have produced these ii beloved editors, and I await this fruitful relationship to continue!

Q: Are you lot keeping normal GitHub accounts or trying to push users to use a universal Microsoft account for GitHub login?

Friedman:

We love GitHub login. Your GitHub account is your programmer identity, and many users are accustomed to signing into developer tools and services (e.g. Travis, Circle) with their GitHub accounts. So, if annihilation, we may decide to add GitHub as a login selection to Microsoft.

Q: Do yous accept any plans to make individual repos gratis as on GitLab and BitBucket?

Friedman:

Thanks for the question, but it'southward besides soon for me to know the answer to that. We want GitHub to be accessible to everyone in the globe, and for everyone to have an opportunity to be a developer.

Should we conceptualize whatsoever advertizing to first actualization on our public GitHub project repositories?

Friedman:

No.

Q: What elements of Github's civilisation would y'all like to bring to Microsoft?

Friedman:

I of the cool things virtually GitHub is that GitHub runs on GitHub; their sales, marketing, and legal functions actually use issues and pull requests to collaborate across the visitor. This means that all of the diverse teams work in the open, and this contributes to a very collaborative culture (it too means that new lawyers at GitHub acquire how to merge a PR and which emojis to use when they join!).

Q: Given Microsoft's acquisition history and the tarnished reputation some products have received equally a result, why should we trust that this is a good affair for the future of GitHub?

Friedman:

Microsoft has learned some difficult (expensive) lessons about this type of acquisition. Acquisitions under the current Microsoft leadership have a skilful runway record – Minecraft and LinkedIn are examples where Microsoft acquired a successful platform, provided the companies with the resources they needed to advance, and then allow them go on to operate independently. Information technology'southward working well.

Q: Is in that location any truth to the rumor that Clippy will exist joining your team? I think "You appear to have a merge disharmonize. How can I help y'all?" is a skillful fit for Github.

Friedman:

His name is actually Clippit, and you lot volition address him equally Mr. Clippit.

If yous're interested in checking out everything Friedman addressed, you can check out much more in the total Reddit AMA.

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