Microsoft's GitHub deal is a bet on developers' trust
The proposed $7.5 billion acquisition would bring a major home for collaborative software development under Microsoft's ownership.
Microsoft has agreed to acquire GitHub in a transaction valued at $7.5 billion. GitHub hosts source code and the conversations surrounding it, making the proposed deal relevant to far more than customers of Microsoft's own development tools. The announcement is an agreement, with completion still to follow.
For a software team, a repository is also a record of decisions: issues, reviews, releases and contributions accumulate around the code. Moving such a working community is harder than copying a folder. That makes continuity and confidence central questions for GitHub's users.
Microsoft has an opportunity to connect its developer products to a large audience. The harder task will be preserving a platform that welcomes competing tools and operating systems. Developers will judge that commitment through future product decisions as much as through today's announcement.
Source: Microsoft announcement ↗