Microsoft has officially confirmed that it will acquire the GitHub repository. The transaction is worth 7.5 billion dollars. The Redmond Group will thus become the owner of a platform whose entire philosophy of existence is in opposition to the way in which business is conducted, which has made Microsoft a powerful player.
GitHub is a website designed for programming projects. It is extremely popular and provides free hosting for open source software. Microsoft's history is linked primarily to proprietary software. Although the Group has been involved in open source projects for many years, it is still a symbol of everything that is wrong with the philosophy of closed source software.
Microsoft is a company that focuses primarily on developers. By joining forces with GitHub, we reaffirm our commitment to freedom, openness and innovation," said Satya Nadella, Microsoft's Chief Executive Officer. We recognize our responsibility to the community and will do our utmost to assist developers in developing and upgrading tools to address the world's most pressing challenges," added Nadella.
Microsoft is increasingly open to Open Source projects and, paradoxically, has become one under Steve Ballmer, the once intransigent enemy of open source. Under the Nadelles regime, the process of opening up Microsoft's various projects is accelerating. The owners of GitHub preferred to sell the service rather than look for money on the stock exchange, and certainly Nadella's behaviour was important when making a decision about the sale.
During the nine months of 2016, GitHub lost $66 million. The company has been looking for a new director for months. Following the acquisition of GitHub by Microsoft, the former corporate vice president and founder of Xamarin, Nat Friedman, will become the executive director of GitHub.
Talks between Microsoft and GitHub have been going on for some time. At first the cooperation was considered, then the full takeover was discussed. Chris Wanstrath, who has been Executive Director of GitHub for the past months, expressed his hope that the scale of Microsoft's operations, the tools at his disposal and the global cloud computing will make GitHub an even more valuable platform.
GitHub will maintain its ethos and operate independently, providing an open platform for all developers. Developers will be able to use the languages, tools and operating systems they want. They will be able to develop their code to any operating system, any cloud and any tool," Microsfot declared.