Microsoft has acquired GitHub for $7.5B in Microsoft stock

After a week of rumors, Microsoft today confirmed that it has acquired GitHub, the popular Git-based code sharing and collaboration service. The price of the acquisition was $7.5 billion in Microsoft stock. GitHub raised $350 million and we know that the company was valued at about $2 billion in 2015.

Former Xamarin CEO Nat Friedman (and now Microsoft corporate vice president) will become GitHub’s CEO. GitHub CEO Chris Wanstrath will become a Microsoft technical fellow and work on strategic software initiatives.

GitHub says that as of March 2018, there were 28 million developers in its community, and 85 million code repositories, making it the largest host of source code globally and a cornerstone of how many in the tech world build software.

But despite its popularity with enterprise users, individual developers and open source projects, GitHub has never turned a profit and chances are that the company decided that an acquisition was preferable over trying to IPO.

GitHub’s main revenue source today is paid accounts, which allows for private repositories and a number of other features that enterprises need, with pricing ranging from $7 per user per month to $21/user/month. Those building public and open source projects can use it for free.

While numerous large enterprises use GitHub as their code sharing service of choice, it also faces quite a bit of competition in this space thanks to products like GitLab and Atlassian’s Bitbucket, as well as a wide range of other enterprise-centric code hosting tools.

Microsoft is acquiring GitHub because it’s a perfect fit for its own ambitions to be the go-to platform for every developer, and every developer need, no matter the platform. [QUOTE]

Microsoft has long embraced the Git protocol and is using it in its current Visual Studio Team Services product, which itself used to compete with GitHub’s enterprise service. Knowing GitHub’s position with developers, Microsoft has also leaned on the service quite a bit itself, too and some in the company already claim it is the biggest contributor to GitHub today.

Yet while Microsoft’s stance toward open source has changed over the last few years, many open source developers will keep a very close look at what the company will do with GitHub after the acquisition. That’s because there is a lot of distrust of Microsoft in this cohort, which is understandable given Microsoft’s history.

In fact, TechCrunch received a tip on Friday, which noted not only that the deal had already closed, but that open source software maintainers were already eyeing up alternatives and looking potentially to abandon GitHub in the wake of the deal. Some developers (not just those working in open source) were not wasting time even to wait for a confirmation of the deal before migrating.

While GitHub is home to more than just open source software, if such a migration came to pass, it would be a very bad look both for GitHub and Microsoft. And, it would a particularly ironic turn, given the very origins of Git: the versioning control system was created by Linus Torvalds in 2005 when he was working on development of the Linux kernel, in part as a response to a previous system, BitKeeper, changing its terms away from being free to use.

The new Microsoft under CEO Satya Nadella strikes us as a very different company from the Microsoft of ten years ago — especially given that the new Microsoft has embraced open source — but it’s hard to forget its earlier history of trying to suppress Linux.

Yet at the same time, it’s worth remembering that Microsoft is now a member of the Linux Foundation and regularly backs a number of open source projects. And Windows now has the Linux subsystem while VS Code, the company’s free code editing tool is open source and available on GitHub, as are .NET Core and numerous other Microsoft-led projects.

And many in the company were defending Microsoft’s commitment to GitHub and its principles, even before the deal was announced.

I don't think people understand how many of us at Microsoft love GitHub to the bottom of our hearts.

If anybody decided to mess with that community, there would be a riot to say the least

— Mat Velloso, the cynical (@matvelloso) June 4, 2018

Still, you can’t help but wonder how Microsoft might leverage GitHub within its wider business strategy, which could see the company build stronger bridges between GitHub and Azure, its clod hosting service, and its wide array of software and collaboration products. Microsoft is no stranger to ingesting huge companies. One of them, LinkedIn, might be another area where Microsoft might explore synergies, specifically around areas like recruitment and online tutorials and education.

from Microsoft – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/04/microsoft-has-acquired-github-for-7-5b-in-microsoft-stock/

Amazon latest to face UK complaint over ‘bogus self-employment’

Amazon is the latest tech giant to be targeted by a legal challenge in the UK related to gig economy working practices.

The UK’s GMB Union is filing suit on behalf of couriers for three delivery companies used by Amazon — accusing the suppliers of making bogus claims that the delivery drivers were self employed, and thus denying them employment rights such as the national minimum wage and holiday pay.

The three Amazon suppliers in question are: Prospect Commercials Limited, Box Group Limited and Lloyd Link Logistics Limited.

The GMB Union says one of the drivers involved in the case recounted his experience of leaving the house at 6am, not returning from work until 11pm — and still having £1 per undelivered parcel deducted from his wages.

On more than one occasion the driver was also told he would not be paid if he did not complete a route — and it said he had sometimes driven when “half asleep at the wheel” in order to ensure he got paid.

Two of the three claimants in the lawsuit are also claiming whistleblower status, saying they were dismissed after they raised concerns about working practices. Among their claims are that —

• the number of parcels allocated to drivers resulted in excessive hours and/or driving unsafely to meet targets;
• drivers were expected to wait a significant time to load their vans, extending their working hours;
• drivers were driving whilst tired, which posed a threat to their safety and other road users; and
• drivers were being underpaid and not being paid amounts that they were contractually entitled to

The GMB Union says these whistleblowing claims are also being brought directly against Amazon on the basis that it was the company who determined the way the drivers should work.

In a statement, Tim Roache, GMB general secretary, told us: “Amazon is a global company that makes billions. It’s absolutely galling that they refuse to afford the people who make that money for them even the most basic rights, pay and respect. The day to day reality for many of our members who deliver packages for Amazon, is unrealistic targets, slogging their guts out only to have deductions made from their pay when those targets aren’t met and being told they’re self-employed without the freedom that affords.

“Companies like Amazon and their delivery companies can’t have it both ways — they can’t decide they want all of the benefits of having an employee, but refuse to give those employees the pay and rights they’re entitled to. Guaranteed hours, holiday pay, sick pay, pension contributions are not privileges companies can dish out when they fancy. They are the legal right of all UK workers, and that’s what we’re asking the courts to rule on.”

Amazon UK declined to answer any specific questions but a spokesperson sent us this statement:

Our delivery providers are contractually obligated to ensure drivers they engage receive the National Living Wage and are expected to pay a minimum of £12 per hour, follow all applicable laws and driving regulations and drive safely. Allegations to the contrary do not represent the great work done by around 100 small businesses generating thousands of work opportunities for delivery drivers across the UK.

Amazon is proud to offer a wide variety of work opportunities across Britain—full-time or part-time employment, or be your own boss. Last year we created 5,000 new permanent jobs on top of thousands of opportunities for people to work independently with the choice and flexibility of being their own boss—either through Amazon Logistics, Amazon Flex, or Amazon Marketplace.

The legal challenge is just the latest in the UK related to gig economy employment classifications. The most high profile to date involves Uber — which in October 2016 lost an employment tribunal which had challenged the self-employed status of a group of Uber drivers, with judges deeming them to be workers.

Uber has also since lost an appeal against the ruling but is continuing to appeal. Yet at the same time the company has announced personal injury and illness insurance products for drivers and riders in region — in what looks very much like an effort to shrink its legal liabilities as gig economy conditions come under increased legal and political scrutiny in Europe.

Complaints related to gig economy working conditions — and including delivery companies specifically — have been facing parliamentary scrutiny in the UK for many months now.

In parallel, the UK government has been reviewing employment law, including to take account of technology-driven changes to work and working patterns. And in February it announced a package of labor market reforms intended to “build an economy that works for everyone” — with the government making itself accountable for what it dubbed “good quality work” not just the quantity of jobs that are available.

The reforms were billed as expanding workers rights — with the government claiming that “millions” of workers would get new day-one rights, as well as having their rights bolstered by tougher enforcement for sick and holiday pay.

Although it also announced four consultations to help feed the reforms. So their full and final shape isn’t clear yet. And court decisions flowing from gig economy legal challenges are likely to be influential in shaping the future employment law.

Amazon has faced other concerns related to its working practices in the UK. Earlier this month the FT reported on a separate GMB Union investigation related to working practices inside Amazon’s UK warehouses — which have been the focus of long-standing concerns over pay and working conditions.

The union filed Freedom of Information requests with ambulance services near the warehouses and said it found that ambulances had been called to the centers 600 times in the last three years. According to its investigation there were 115 call-outs to just one Amazon center, in Rugeley, near Birmingham, which employs more than 1,800 people. Whereas it said it found just eight ambulance calls over the same period from a nearby Tesco warehouse — where 1,300 people work.

However Amazon told the newspaper that most of the call-outs were associated with “personal health events”, rather than being work related, adding: “It is simply not correct to suggest that we have unsafe working conditions based on this data or on unsubstantiated anecdotes.”

from Amazon – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/04/amazon-latest-to-face-uk-complaint-over-bogus-self-employment/

What do you aspire to be?

When we go looking for a co-worker, a freelancer, a vendor or even a boss, we're hoping for something. It might be:

Perfect

Interesting

Accommodating

Productive

Challenging

and a host of other attributes that any of us are able to aspire to.

Of course, we never look for someone who is invisible, or brittle, or a bully.

The temptation is to take the lesson of a dozen years of compulsory education and choose to be the perfect one. The problem with perfect, though, is that it's really difficult to pull off in the long run. The problem with perfect is that when you fail, you have none of the other more flexible human traits to fall back on. And the problem with perfect is that merely meeting spec means that the organization is soon going to be looking for someone cheaper and faster than you are.

       

from Seth Godin's Blog on marketing, tribes and respect http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/549933814/0/sethsblog~What-do-you-aspire-to-be.html

Rethinking graduation (off topic)

It's that time of year again... If you hear "Pomp & Circumstance" playing, you know you're in the right place, and you also know you're about to witness a pre-electrification (never mind pre-digital) event.

Who's it for?
What's it for?

I fear that tradition has gotten in the way of design thinking.

When we ask those two questions, great opportunities arrive.

A prime audience for graduation is the graduates. And what do they want? A moment in the spotlight. Official recognition. Digital media to prove it. Speed. Humor. Connection.

At the same time, expanding the amount of time spent parading each student on the stage for a photo and a handshake undermines most of that, and it alienates or numbs everyone else.

Consider: we have screens now. Are graduates believe in speed, screens and being seen.

I'd do the following things, simultaneously:

1. Instead of one team of two doing the handshake and photo dance, have three teams. I don't think a student cares if it's a dean or an associate dean (or even a department chair) who shakes their hand. With three processions at a time instead of one, we go from six people a minute to 20. That means, even if you change nothing else, you've cut the time by two-thirds.

Reading the names more quickly is easy if you have three people doing the reading instead of one. Read them with care, and respect, and honor them, but that's no reason to dillydally.

2. You could add extra cameras and have all the photos instantly posted to Flickr or Instagram. This means that the pictures would be shared immediately and with more power.

3. But the real win is in using the iMax video displays. In the month before graduation, each student comes to an office at the school (you can have multiple offices that do this) and records themselves saying their name. Now, we have a video of their face, with their name in bold type below, saying their name with pride. Edited tightly, this would permit a fun, energetic video with each student in it. You could cut in, every few minutes, some singing groups, a on-campus charity event, etc. While the videos are rolling, when a student's name comes up, she marches across the stage.

Tension.
Excitement.
Speed.

And it would look great.

Produced.

Energetic.

I think the students would take even more pride in that sort of celebration. We would eliminate almost all the last minute worries (if someone doesn't march when their picture is up top, that's okay).

Graduation is a milestone. We should make it feel like one again.

       

from Seth Godin's Blog on marketing, tribes and respect http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/549837656/0/sethsblog~Rethinking-graduation-off-topic.html

Misunderstanding the free market

Ice skating requires two things: smooth ice and gravity. Without a reliable foundation, you can't move forward. And without the constraints and boundaries put on us by gravity, you can't move at all.

The free market, the holy grail of some capitalists, is similar.

In a completely unbounded environment, markets can't develop, investments won't get made, nothing moves forward. You need clean air and water, a civil society, an educated workforce, a confident and trusting market and more. The very taxes that some whine about are the gravity that makes the system work.

There's a reason that there are no libertarian utopias. Left to its own devices, the market will fall apart, as a few race to the bottom and the pain of incivility takes over.

       

from Seth Godin's Blog on marketing, tribes and respect http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/549776538/0/sethsblog~Misunderstanding-the-free-market.html

Throat clearing isn't necessary

Begin in the middle.

The first paragraph, where you lay out what's about to happen. The half-apology you use to preface your comments at the meeting. The email that takes a paragraph or two to get to the point...

You can skip those.

Throat clearing is a good way to make sure that people are looking at you. And an even better way to give yourself time to collect your thoughts, to indulge your fears or to get yourself warmed up.

But we're already looking at you. We've clicked through to your link, given you the microphone, read your note...

Say all that stuff in your head, but, we'd really like to hear the best part first.

Begin in the middle.

       

from Seth Godin's Blog on marketing, tribes and respect http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/549633550/0/sethsblog~Throat-clearing-isnt-necessary.html

Writing for people who don't read

Right there, there's your problem.

I know you'd like to reach more people, and most people don't read.

But if you're going to write, the only choice you have is to reach people who will choose to engage with you. Do it properly, and there's a chance that those voluntarily literate people will tell their friends and colleagues.

And of course, the same thing goes for trying to teach people who don't learn, tell jokes to people who don't laugh, and campaign to people who don't vote. It almost always works better if you engage with people who are enrolled in the journey and then motivate them to engage with their peers.

PS for people who listen, the 16th episode of Akimbo is now live. I hope you get a chance to listen to my answer to the second question on this episode, about education...

 

       

from Seth Godin's Blog on marketing, tribes and respect http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/549423696/0/sethsblog~Writing-for-people-who-dont-read.html