As an outcome of losing its US anti-trust case, Microsoft was forced to allow users to easily choose and install non-Microsoft browsers , the judge ruling that Microsoft had illegally protected its Windows monopoly by bundling Internet Explorer. The European Union found similarly in 2009, mandating a Browser Choice Screen allow users to use a browser of their choice and imposing fines of over €2 billion. And yet Microsoft appears to have learned nothing: in Windows 11, the PC Manager tool wants to “repair” any system not using Bing as its default.
I avoid using Windows at all costs, preferring MacOS, FreeBSD, Linux, basically anything but Windows. My wife’s laptop, however, is Windows and I’m her technical support, so I’m regularly reminded why: unexplained hangs, forced upgrades, random reboots, constantly “improved” UX, incessant advertising and upsells that even senior Microsoft engineers have publically railed against. Despite promise, no one truly believes Microsoft will actually substantive change.
I’m outside their ecosystem so I’m left griping about LinkedIn (owned by Microsoft) and totally irrelevant ads injected into my feed. And that’s a pretty petty gripe in the grand scheme of things. That changed with an email received from GitHub (owned by Microsoft):
Ah, fuck no! Despite their claim This approach aligns with established industry practice why shouldn’t this content – my code – be viewed any differently than content that AI companies are required to license? If the code uses a copy-left license, would its ingested into the LLM require Microsoft to release its code? Are intellectual property rights violated when a non-public repository is ingested? Seems smarmy no matter what Microsoft’s legal interpretation, but obviously desperate for new, easy, free content to improve CoPilot.
And yet, there’s more.
Apparently Microsoft will leave no stone unturned in an attempt to generate new revenue, but a commit message?!? The backlash was too intense even for Microsoft, resulting in a mea culpa and course correction. Still, what sleaze bag/shit hole with any common sense approve this?
Next Steps
Despite how GitHub is the ubiquitous default for hosting personal repos, it’s time for everyone to move on. I’ll be researching other options, carefully reviewing their terms, and moving my personal repos elsewhere. My competing priorities likely means no immediate change, but it is going to happen. A stretch goal is removing my LinkedIn presence.
Unfortunately, my wife is not changing from Windows to anything else so I’ll be stuck with the occasional pain. Sign….
