Lots of skepticism around this acquisition I'm seeing already. Any big corporate player that took over GitHub would have most likely faced a similar reaction had they decided to go for an IPO. It's a bit disappointing to see a neutral platform being gobbled up by a major corporation.

If this deal goes through, what happens to GitHub? Will it be handled poorly like Skype, Yammer, and Nokia? Or will they handle it somewhat better, like LinkedIn? The truly paranoid might also remember the _NSAKEY in Windows NT [en.wikipedia.org].

Given Microsoft's history, a lot of developers don't have a lot of confidence. Looks like an exodus to GitLab has begun.

Microsoft Corp. has agreed to acquire GitHub Inc.

What an odd way of putting it. Are they saying that someone asked them, as a special favor, to acquire it, and they've grudgingly consented to do so?

Might be time to try out Mercurial.

from the bloomberg story linked in the OP:

GitHub is an essential tool for coders. Many corporations, including Microsoft and Alphabet Inc.’s Google, use GitHub to store their corporate code and to collaborate. It’s also a social network of sorts for developers.

probably cheaper and less disruptive to buy it and keep it afloat.
and of course the opportunity to control it...

Now confirmed, Microsoft acquires GitHub for $7.5 billion
[blogs.microsoft.com...]

Together we will continue to advance GitHub as a platform loved by developers and trusted by organizations.

“Microsoft is a developer-first company, and by joining forces with GitHub we strengthen our commitment to developer freedom, openness and innovation,” said Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft. “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.”

[news.microsoft.com...]

Anyone have an idea of where MS may think the monetary value is?

Anyone have an idea of where MS may think the monetary value is?

My guess is it'll probably cost them less to manage it than to set up its own system.

Anyone have an idea of where MS may think the monetary value is?

probably cheaper and less disruptive to buy it and keep it afloat.

Plus:
- there is still a business model behind Github, since there are paid services,
- it will be easier to spy on others code when you have direct access to the server hosting this code,

Microsoft and Alphabet Inc.’s Google, use GitHub to store their corporate code

That makes no sense to me. Why would M$ & Google use Github to store anything?

Both Microsoft and Google develop some open source code and make use of GitHub, which is the most popular place to post such projects and collaborate with the community. Why wouldn't they make use of that resource for internal development as well?

Why wouldn't they make use of that resource for internal development as well?

Because they both own vast cloud servers to store data. I think the misstep from the Bloomberg article was the term "corporate code."

It's understandable for open source code in development to be part of a platform like Github, but not "corporate code."

Github is where the geeks play. Keeping it alive is not a bad thing for even corporations with their own stables of coders in residence. They can become stale and, without knowing it, follow a corporate mentality, thus missing the aberrant thought which could be the next Big Thing.

This can end up as an empty shell , if developers migrate to other platforms.

Microsoft might use Github to increase the number of developments for Windows, by providing more tools to make the development more and more easy. And I see Microsoft also turning Github as a marketplace platform where developers will be able to monetize their applications and skill. Your Github contributions can serve as a portfolio to protect clients interested in hiring you.

I think the misstep from the Bloomberg article was the term "corporate code."

Yeah. That could be taken the wrong way. They aren't putting Windows or Office code on there I'll bet.

It's a race to own everything from the same few conpanies. How much does github make? [quora.com...]

Even using numbers of 200 million per year, with no expenses for servers or employees or anything.. It would take over 30 years for Microsoft to make back their money.. Hopefully without interest...

It would take over 30 years for Microsoft to make back their money.

That's assuming the current level of revenue. Many acquisitions are made because the acquiring company feels they have better ways of generating revenue from it.

Many (most?) acquisitions are made to block others from acquiring those assets or/and to gain control of patents.

There has certainly been a lot of noise making about this within the open source community. I can kind of see why some people are sceptical about this, many will see Microsoft as the exact opposite of FOSS. Personally, I don't think Microsoft can change Github to much because the users are there for what Github offers. If it becomes radically different, or if it doesn't suit the userbase they will move along to the next best Github competitor.

I also think MS paid way over the odds. I think this is about finding out what is happening within the open source software community and using it as a tool to keep MS products on par.

Mack.

if it doesn't suit the userbase they will move along to the next best Github

You mean like GitLab ? The hour following the annoucement of Microsoft acquiring Github, 13.000 projects were moved to GitLab, and 50.000 within a week. [news.softpedia.com...]