Paul Wermer, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
C.Regarding #Github, #Microsoft, and "AI"...
There was a lot of unease when Microsoft, famous for hating open-source / free software for so long, bought Github. The worry was Microsoft would return to their anti-competitive ways and use Github as a cudgel against its perceived ~~enemies~~ competitors. But no, they declared, Github would forever remain independent of Microsoft, running for the benefit of the world. There was no reason to #distrust them.
Then, of course, recently they memory-holed those promises, and said Github would no longer be #independent. Instead, it would operate as part of Microsoft - specifically as part of their #AI unit.
Why AI? Well, to use Github's mountain of code and user data to train their #LLM, of course. The LLMs that are #copyright violations at mass scale, and that despite any PR claims really are intended to allow customers to replace expensive, #knowledgeable #software #engineers with their #plagiarism machine.
In response, many have closed or stated their intention to close their Github accounts.
To that, I say: don't. Closing it sends a brief message, and nothing else.
Instead, keep your #account and #repositories. Create new ones. Not for your real use - check in your buggy, non-working #code. Check in #broken code generated by their (or other) LLM. Pollute the #training #data. Merge idiotic unrelated PRs. Check in stuff that doesn't build, doesn't run.
Throw those #sabots in the machine. Make it serve a purpose.
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