I think people are "okay" with Microsoft because so many hackers have a problem with the data agglomeration and monetization strategy of Google and Facebook, but this Microsoft "embrace" will come to a head within the next couple years and I just can't wait for it.
The way people think Microsoft's embrace of open source, GitHub, and now NPM is genuine is completely ridiculous. Microsoft had to change because much of where the action was is on *nix systems. Microsoft will start to use these companies to make developers embrace Microsoft services. It's only a matter of time.
I can't even come up with a scenario of how MS would realistically do so? Sure, making GH actions easier to set up with Azure than AWS seems plausible, but also strikes me as somewhat benign.
Banning python from Github? Requiring \r\n for NPM packages? What's the move you're afraid of?
One question GitLab's CEO (sytse) is rightfully asking is whether the ability to trace code from npm back to the repository will be available to competitors. If not, less competition is bad for users.
I still think this is good news, given where npm is coming from, but it's certainly not risk-free.
This is where effective anti-trust enforcement is important and valuable.
Until we come up with better trusted federation protocols there will be natural monopolies, but that doesn't mean they get unchecked power. We have laws for that.
I don't give any credence to the idea that Microsoft under Satya Nadella is the same company as Microsoft under Gates or Ballmer, much less the idea that it is secretly lying in wait to go back to its old, far-less-profitable ways. It has behaved differently. It is making its money differently. It no longer stack-rank fires people. And it is making a whole lot more money doing things this way than it made the way it used to behave.
