[outsomnia]

He's not claiming that his approach was "completely novel". He's claiming microsoft identified his way, that already existed, was the way they wanted to go, toyed with bringing him in to run it and then got overwhelmed by internal Not Invented Here / We Can Do It Better and threw him under the bus.

It's literally the new cuddly microsoft Embracing, Extending and Extinguishing this guy's work.

[1propionyl]

What new cuddly Microsoft? When did they grow fur? Did people honesty believe that some messaging and branding choices would outweigh the influence of institutional inertia, for such a large company?

[PascLeRasc]

They've been shoving "Microsoft loves Linux" in everyone's face everywhere they can. It's like they read this tweet and didn't realize it was satire: https://twitter.com/shutupmikeginn/status/403359911481839617

[FeepingCreature]

Yes. People honestly believe this.

[acje]

(*NULL && MAXINT++) == True

Logic is futile

[battery423]

You are a small Team in a big company.

Your job is to create an App Manager.

There is already a code base under a MIT license.

You use it.

I'm not seeing the issue.

[alasdair_]

>I'm not seeing the issue.

The issue is when they didn't just fork the codebase, they repeatedly flew the person who wrote the code out to Seattle on false pretenses, implying a job offer and additional money for their work, then picked the developer's brains until Microsoft learned all they needed from him, then just ignored all communication from him.

The issue is that it was dishonest and scummy behavior.

[kkapelon]

The issue is bringing the author of the MIT code to your HQ for a fake interview and make suggestions that he will work with you.

You just milk him for information and let him go without any further communication.

[nyir]

> You use it.

And you keep the copyright notice, otherwise you're violating the license.

If it's based on the same design (i.e. same file formats, mechanisms, etc.) then the issue is still not giving credit and pointing out the design it's based on. Doesn't cost them a thing and gives a lot of goodwill from people.

Like, if someone uses my code, I'm happy, if they copy the idea and present it as their own that's dishonest.

[sergeykish]

He only asked for acknowledgement.

And lets not forget - they had similar open source project and community. They decided not to participate but create their own. This new project will overshadow existing and eventually kill community.

[svick]

> You use it.

They didn't use any of AppGet's code.

Though nobody is questioning whether what MS did was legal. The issue is whether it was moral.