How Microsoft won developers’ hearts

In today’s edition, we’re diving into one of the most surprising tech acquisitions of the decade:

In 2018, Microsoft took a risk that shocked everyone. Because,

They bought GitHub, a platform for open-source software, for $7.5 billion.

The tech world was shocked.

GitHub was the heart of the open-source community. Its user base was 28 million developers.

And Microsoft, once seen as the enemy of open source, would now own it?

But critics were overruled because Microsoft had a bigger problem:

Developer trust.

Microsoft couldn’t win over developers.

CEO Satya Nadella had been working hard to change Microsoft’s image since 2014.

They open-sourced .NET, partnered with Linux, but developers were still skeptical.

That’s when Nat Friedman, a longtime open-source advocate, had an idea:

If we want to prove our commitment to open source,
why not buy the largest open-source platform and keep it independent?

Thus, the GitHub acquisition happened.

——

Nat Friedman, who had sold his company Xamarin to Microsoft in 2016, became GitHub’s CEO.

Developers were scared.

After years of its anti-open-source stance,
how could they trust Microsoft with their code?

Nat gave them the answer: Actions

He explained to developers that Microsoft wouldn’t interfere with GitHub. His job was to make GitHub better for developers.

If they had concerns, first they should look at Microsoft’s actions. If GitHub remained independent and improved, they should give Microsoft a chance.

Thus, actions became the center of trust, not past reputation or fears.

The rest is history.

GitHub’s growth exploded.

Open-source contributions increased.

The acquisition was a huge success. GitHub grew from 28 million users in 2018 to over 100 million in 2023!

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Thanks for reading.