Free Knowledge Culture Calendar/October 26

Today in 2018 Microsoft took over GitHub, the monopoly for source code hosting with millions of users and projects. With the integration of Web 2.0 gamification features (“social coding”), with user profiles that include résumés and references, Github established itself as a self-promotion platform for developers. It was able to capitalize on the platform effect and user dependency. Combined with the convenience of its all-in-one service it managed to become the new monopoly for programming collaboration. “Code is on Github” became a standard and good style for code releases, to show that you are willing to follow developers instead of throwing some code over the wall. With platforms – like Amazon, Netflix, Android – at the center of entire ecosystems and often holding a monopoly position, selling people’s dependency on a platform has become one of the most profitable business models. The purchase is therefore an obvious strategic investment for Microsoft.