|
It's basically the same reason Google pays for Chrome. Giving a free/good/open (mostly open, natch: liveshare, remote plugins) product hedges against the worst most dangerous form of existential risk, takeover of the world by controlled/proprietary (or just other people's) products. Microsoft was losing badly. Windows was the only (slight exaggeration) development platform that mattered for a long time, but that relevance has shrank enormously. Microsoft needed to stay relevant, needed to maintain relevance. Less and less people were thinking of Microsoft as relevant or interesting or important. Building & giving away good product keeps them dealt in to the great game. That it wasn't just their home turf, but actively in the fray? Just as important a factor, expanding their realm of influence. And it gives them optionality into the future. They can use & adjust this best-of-breed technology to whatever possible ends suit them, as time goes on. It's a huge, longrunning, long bet: they developed anew their talent for code development. It's worked. They have become the go-to editor, again, after many years. They reserve some of the best capabilities with proprietary ownership- so far still reasonably free though. But we're seeing, just now, the breakthrough game, the real payouts, as projects like Github Codespaces bloom into fruition, become viable, powerful, compelling places to get work done, for folks of all level. Ultra-accessible, no minimum requirements to get started, everything works out of box, best-of-breed-capabilities. By being good at a core-talent of the world (coding), one that is powered by the most important platform on the planet (the web), Microsoft has the ability to adapt & grow into & make good any product that touches code/coding. |