Why GitHub’s new Announcement should be no surprise

Since Microsoft has acquired GitHub for over 7.5$ a lot has changed. They have given away a lot of free features since then:

• action workflows for CI / CD
• package feeds
• npm is part of GitHub
• GitHub for mobile and now also
• private repos free for teams

These features are following Microsoft’s changed philosophy of open source which Satya Nadella introduced with his famous statement:

to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more

Satya Nadella – Keynote WPC 2014

In hindsight it is easy to say that this mission fits perfectly on what GitHub is giving away for free.

Microsoft’s Strategy – a Good Compromise

Let’s be clear with Microsoft’s strategy as a company; you need to make money. Everybody needs to make money in our current system to do anything. No matter if “good” or “bad”. So everybody is clear that buying GitHub was not a decision because of revenue, but because of strategy.

But with the right philosophy it just empowers everyone else to actually do more. Because you take customers who pay and can afford it. And you take the beginners, students, starting freelancers and give them something for free. In German we call that “Mischkalkulation” which I think translates to “mixed calculation”. And this is the same way how I feel how it should be. You can grow best if you help people who can’t afford these things easily.

So it help everyone as long as a company does not loose it’s way. And tech in general has great potential to do a lot for the world.

Now Practice: How to get private Repos for Teams

The first thing you need is an organization in GitHub. And before that an account of course! 😉

Let’s make it fairly easy… with screenshots. First create an organization with your own account

And then invite your team for free

That’s it! Happy collaborating in private!

Also published on Medium.