I think what Nadella is doing at MSFT is truly remarkable, refocus on adding value and shifting from Ballmer's broken model ... interesting times.
MS thank you for VS Code - I never thought I would replace my Vim.
I also love how Azure products work so seamlessly with it. Almost magical.
I then spent an hour researching it, trying to find out what the catch was. Was the wikipedia page entry a prank? Was I getting some kind of malware masquerading as a pro development tool? Was is a temporary trial before big licensing fees were demanded of me? Does it need some sort expensive companion server that only runs on Windows Server? What's the catch?
But no, no catch. It's free, and it's open, and it works great. But every time I launch it I feel like I've walked into some weird alternate dimension. I have to remind myself that yes, this is reality: I'm using a native-Linux, fast, reliable, extensible, MIT-licensed editor made by freakin' Microsoft. So strange, man. So strange.
To quote user ilaksh in this thread: "They will set it up so that it will _seem_ like your are developing for Linux, but due to some extensions or technicality it will only work on _Linux inside of Windows_.
So from my perspective it is amazing that people think this is a good thing for Linux."
There are good historic reasons to distrust M$.
I know Microsoft tried to kill Linuxfest Northwest a few years back, sponsoring it and taking control of 1/3 of the floor space, both approved afterpartys, etc. This year they had a small booth that was staffed for one of the two days...
Most of the people I know stopped going to LFNW after the shitshow that was that year, they still attend SeaGL and other conventions.
The exploding can of WD-40 that MS handed out that year was the cherry on top of the hijacking of the main space, fake Azure credits, and poorly run afterparty that MS put on.
Frankly, MS should not have been allowed to hijack LFNW that year. This year MS was the only booth to not staff on Sunday, I'd hope LFNW doesn't waste table space next year.
I, however, don't see him doing anything to that "broken model." Since Ballmer left, Microsoft actually got even more dependent on plumpy "corporate" clients. It just people who once self hosted AD now got upsold on running their AD and other corporate software on Azure.
Well, as it did under Ballmer, under same circumstances. He also did pretty much the same — doubling down on milking plumpy corporate clients while streamlining the business in overall + doing some disasterous acquisitions which were nevertheless welcomed by Wall street analysts
>He also did pretty much the same — doubling down on milking plumpy corporate clients while streamlining the business in overall
I take it you think that this is a bad thing?