this post was submitted on 08 Oct 2023
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Programming
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Maybe Im reading the vibe wrong but to me, it seems like when it comes to the programmer/sysadmin/poweruser side of Microsoft, they seem pretty good in terms of not being total shit. Their "normie" facing side though seems hella shady though. Things like ads in windows, the speculated subscription model for windows, office 365, one drive spam.
For example, things like vscode, WSL, winget, power tools, the new console app, powershell, typescript, opening up .net to native cross platform. All these things are pretty sweet and seem like something they wouldn't be interested in doing.
It almost feels like there are two Microsofts right now and they are at odds with each other. So yeah, I guess enjoy it while it lasts, but always be ready to drop them like a sack of potatoes.
Like I said in my other comment, I think people tend to lump all of MSFT's activities into the same bucket. DevDiv has always seemed pretty decent, and I am usually reminded of this comic when people talk about MSFT's "shady" activities.
Historically speaking they've been shitty on all possible sides. Some people take that as "fool me twice, shame on me".
Excuse me but I have it from a very reputable source that the saying goes "fool me once...
Shame on... Shame on you.
Fool me-- can't get fooled again"
I remember that moment. It was like, halfway through the sentence he was like, "I don't want the world to have a clip of me saying 'shame on me,' what do I do..." I wonder if he ever figured it out. Because what you don't do, is what he did, just kinda stammer and stumble in a much more clippable way.
Bill Gates was and still is a shady piece of shit. Microsoft is a lot better without him - but that's a low bar.
Personally what bothers me is that they're starting to treat developers as users, the same as they treat Grandpa's operating system, or Beth in accounting's office suite: make everything "easy" and "intuitive" and "helpful". I became a developer because I got tired of my computers getting in my way, so now I make them do what I want. I don't want or need an intuitive, helpful interface. If you're going to make a tool for me to use, just make the tool do that thing and that's it.
I've mostly moved on from GitHub, only using it for little pushes because the green dots look good for prospective employers.
Edit: for those if you unfamiliar with how he's been a piece of shit specifically recently: he is the primary reason why covid vaccines weren't open-sourced. Poor countries were forced to live or die based on the generosity of wealthy nations (and the infrastructure around that generosity), rather than enabling them to buy it from less expensive sources, or even make it themselves.
Not only is that just shitty on its face, let's not forget that a pandemic somewhere is a pandemic everywhere; the fact that he prolonged covid in poor countries (resulting in the death of thousands if not hundreds of thousands), he kept it from fading in wealthy countries, too (resulting in the death of thousands if not hundreds of thousands).
Gates's battle to protect "intellectual property rights" (read: take but don't give) has been a life-long thing for him, literally since childhood. His viciously selfish tactics have produced great success for him, but it's a despicable kind of success... And having "retired" and amassed more money than he could possibly spend, you'd think he could just sit back and let the rest of us get on with it, but no - that's not how his level of selfishness works - it's insatiable.
Github has been kinda getting weird lately. They added a "for you" feed, ads for copilot, and the front page is super middle-managery.
Yeah, the Copilot ad in the source viewer smacks of desperation.
Idk, I actually kind of like the "for you" feed. I've discovered some interesting projects on there that I wouldn't have otherwise
I dont think it has any place on a developer tool/workplace platform. Algorithmic feeds are the first step towards enshittification. If they had a "trending repos" page, it'd be fine, but they're hijacking people's work flows to show (potential) ads.
Yeah, I get that. I'm on sabbatical RN, so my GitHub usage is purely personal. Having your work feed hijacked is a different story altogether