> I think I understand the difficult position that they are in, and I'd rather they do that than fall to sell to some large entity their name recognition and their IP.
I think GitHub has done pretty well under Microsoft's ownership. There was a story a few years back, Microsoft tried to buy Docker but apparently Docker wanted more money than Microsoft was offering. Maybe they now wish they'd said "yes".
A big company like Microsoft can afford to have some loss-leaders in their ecosystem. So could Amazon or Google, but I personally think Microsoft would have been a better steward of Docker than Amazon or Google would have.
Of course, Microsoft is a private for-profit corporation, whose benevolence is not guaranteed to last forever, and has even done some malevolent things in its past. But Microsoft's benevolence may well last longer than Docker's financial ability to offer free services can.
I think GitHub has done pretty well under Microsoft's ownership. There was a story a few years back, Microsoft tried to buy Docker but apparently Docker wanted more money than Microsoft was offering. Maybe they now wish they'd said "yes".
A big company like Microsoft can afford to have some loss-leaders in their ecosystem. So could Amazon or Google, but I personally think Microsoft would have been a better steward of Docker than Amazon or Google would have.
Of course, Microsoft is a private for-profit corporation, whose benevolence is not guaranteed to last forever, and has even done some malevolent things in its past. But Microsoft's benevolence may well last longer than Docker's financial ability to offer free services can.