14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft will take over GitHub for $7.5 billion, and the official announcement has caused concerns in the developer community, as many believe that this is pretty much the end of the world’s largest code repository.
But Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says there’s nothing to be worried about because what the Redmond-based software giant wants to do is improve the capabilities of GitHub while letting the service run independently.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Nadella pointed out that everyone at Microsoft is aware of the criticism, explaining that the company needs to earn developers’ trust as they work to improve GitHub.
“We are very committed to keeping that developer-first ethos of GitHub going forward. That’s why we decided to run this company independently even post-close, operated as an open platform,” Nadella said.
“We’ll have to earn the trust, there’s no question of that, our actions from the recent past should help assure every open-source developer of what Microsoft’s intents are, and of course, they should measure us by what we do going forward and hold us accountable.”
GitHub to remain an open platform
Microsoft reiterated its commitment to open-source software in the announcement rolled out yesterday, explaining that the company “is all-in on open source.”
The firm highlighted three ways to improve GitHub, including accelerating the enterprise side of GitHub and bringing Microsoft’s developer tools and services to new audiences.
Microsoft promised to “always listen to developer feedback,” guaranteeing that “GitHub will remain an open platform, which any developer can plug into and extend.”
It remains to be seen how much GitHub is going to evolve in the coming years after the takeover is complete, but judging from how Microsoft itself has changed since Satya Nadella took over the CEO role within the company, there’s little to be concerned about in the long term.