On Sun 25 Jul 2021 at 21:36:26 +0200, [email protected] wrote: > On Sun, Jul 25, 2021 at 07:43:10PM +0100, Brian wrote: > > On Sun 25 Jul 2021 at 09:34:42 +0200, [email protected] wrote: > > > > > On Sat, Jul 24, 2021 at 04:27:23PM -0400, Jim Popovitch wrote: > > > > > > > Why isn't this on Salsa instead of a Microsoft site? > > > > > > ...you're right. I won't touch github unless I'm forced to :-( > > > > I went to > > > > https://github.com/alexpevzner/sane-airscan > > > > and found it full of very useful information. You will explain why > > Microsoft's involvement in the site should make me wary of advising > > users to go there? > > It is subtle, and you might disagree.
My disagreement is based on my pragmetic attitude. Nobody is out to get us. Assume the best. A good Debian attitude, IMHO. > I always wondered why github was worth 7.5 billion to Microsoft [1]. > Surely it seemed a bit steep for "just" generating good will in the > "open source" (as they choose to call it) community? > > Of course, github succeeded in one thing: they managed to centralise > git, which is inherently decentral. Many people these days see github > as a synonym to git and can't bother to use git without github's > shiny web interface. > > This was, even before the acquisition, enough reason for me to keep > as much distance as possible between github and myself. > > But still, 7.5B? > > Now, with github copilot [2], things start making sense: github users > get support from an AI (GPT-3) for which Microsoft has an exclusive > license (only the service is available for mere mortals). > > They now have a strategic position on how code is written "out there", > at least, they hope to have it. > > Personally, I very much dislike the situation. It very much reminds > me of "The Evitable Conflict" [3] from Isaac Asimov, with the little > wart that Microsoft isn't bound by the Three Laws of Robotics, but > just by their shareholder value :-) Thank you for your coherent argument. I appreciate the concerns. For now I can work with github in the limited way I do. I like Asimov. I like the reference. Like 1984, is it the present or the future? -- Brian.
