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Comment by foobaw | Hacker News Reader

Google and Facebook have tons of private repositories hosted on GitHub. I'd imagine it would be illegal for Microsoft to look into them but Microsoft being such a huge company, this acquisition could easily make Google and Facebook nervous.

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If Google and Facebook have critical code they don't want external companies to view, it is almost certain that code is hosted on-prem or somewhere not like github.

It will be interesting to see which companies strategically move out of github after this acquisition.

...look into / lock / delete them. This gives microsoft the ability to all but stop work at companies who use private repos who compete with them, and/or delete critical repositories. Hope those companies have backups.

Microsoft was described by people who claimed to have seen it as having a terrifying and frightful appearance, with diabolical physiognomy, clawed hands, and eyes that "resembled red balls of fire". One report claimed that, beneath a black cloak, it wore a helmet and a tight-fitting white garment like an oilskin. Many stories also mention a "Devil-like" aspect. Others said it was tall and thin, with the appearance of an agilist. Several reports mention that it could breathe out blue and white flames and that it wore sharp metallic claws at his fingertips. At least two people claimed that it was able to speak comprehensible English

Microsoft, the boogeyman, coming to delete your repos.

Yes, Microsoft will use their new power to block Go development by deleting their repo, or grind the thousands of Facebook employees to a halt by blocking the React repository. Maybe replace the go repo to a redirect to .NET Core.

Surely, every developer will have a backup because it is Git. Unless they're only cloning part of the history.

What? You really imagine that they would delete private repositories belonging to competitors, to attempt to gain an advantage? If Microsoft did that they would be sued so quickly, and for so much it would be unreal. Additionally, there would probably be criminal charges. I just can't imagine a world where this is a possibility...

I can. Microsoft has been spying on anyone willing to hold them accountable, and have plenty of blackmail material at this point. They are huge, politically connected, global in reach and have 0 scruples. I can't imagine that they wouldn't somehow use their position of power over its competitors, as it has in the past, to thwart them and force them further into the Microsoft system.

They likely have only the open source repos, not the private ones.

As far as I know, Google does not host any actually private repos on GitHub. No idea about Facebook.

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