GitHub has become one with Microsoft today, marking the end of the website's independence. Former CEO Thomas Dohmke announced he would step down from his role at GitHub today, leaving Microsoft to take control of the company. GitHub will now become part of Microsoft's CoreAI team, with no successor yet announced for Dohmke.
Dohmke shared in a GitHub blog post that his departure is due to a desire to found a new tech startup. Dohmke will stay on at GitHub through the end of the year to assist in the transition of folding GitHub fully into Microsoft, leaving his founder dreams on hold until then. In his personal X (formerly Twitter) post announcing his resignation, Dohmke teased that future projects may include a new GitHub successor.
GitHub is one of the largest code repositories in the world, having become an essential tool for spreading and collaborating on code projects. It was built based on Git, a distributed version control system for developers created by Linus Torvalds in 2005 to support the development of the Linux kernel. GitHub recently saw its one billionth repo hit the site, which was simply the word "sh*t".
Dohmke has been a key part of GitHub in the Microsoft era, joining the company following Microsoft's $7.5 billion acquisition of the site in 2018 and becoming CEO in 2021. GitHub reached 150 million users and 1 billion repos under Dohmke and became the first landing place for Copilot AI. Microsoft's original acquisition of GitHub allowed the site to continue operating independently from Microsoft. However, that independence will soon end as GitHub, a currently remote-first workplace, becomes further wrapped into Microsoft's control.
Microsoft's decision to wrap GitHub into its CoreAI teams likely indicates an intent to double down on GitHub's AI projects. GitHub Copilot, the first iteration of Copilot to make it to commercial launch in the Windows ecosystem, has become a successful AI coding assistant and a key part of GitHub's public focus, recently receiving a free version for all users. The focus on AI-assisted coding is a well-debated topic in the programming world, with even AI coding assistants hallucinating and telling users to stop using it and learn to code themselves.
Some internet speculators have become wary of the future of GitHub now that it is becoming fully wrapped into Microsoft. Past acquisitions, such as those of Skype and Xamarin, serve as examples of companies and programs that Microsoft has since discontinued. Some fear GitHub may face a similar fate if it is not rebranded and Teams-ified instead. The future of GitHub is uncertain, but Microsoft is highly unlikely to discontinue the operations of the cornerstone of modern coding.
