Specifically, do you worry that Microsoft is going to eventually do the Microsoft thing and horribly fuck it up for everyone? I’ve really grown to appreciate the language itself, but I’m wary of it getting too ingrained at work only to have the rug pulled out from under us when it’s become hard to back out.
Edit: not really “pulling the rug”, but, you know, doing the Microsoft classic.
Everything is temporary. If we were talking about a niche language, I might worry a little bit that it could just lose momentum and die. But TS is a juggernaut. The only way typescript “dies” is if JS integrates enough of its features to make it redundant.
Besides that, if Oracle managed to allow Java to continue to grow and flourish, I have confidence that MS can do at least that well. I also think lumping all of MS’s products into the same boat is a mistake. They have been pretty good stewards of their languages for decades.
Everything is temporary except for people’s opinion on Microsoft.
The company is spending a ton on supporting developers, tools, and open source projects but every time they get mentioned people just hark tired lines of past ill deeds.
I think people should in general put as little trust as possible in corporations. Ensuring your tools, language and platform are as free as possible is a good idea.
Just look at the problematic situation for VS Code extensions by Microsoft, which are non-free.
I can agree with the goal but sadly the corporations have already got their claws deep in the tech stack.
Facebook control React. Google has its hands around Chromium, Android, Go, Angular and I’m sure dozens of others. Then of course Microsoft now own npm, GitHub etc. You’re making your life very difficult if you entirely avoid corporate entities.
If we don’t give corporations credit when they do run projects well then there’s no incentive for them to not go full on capitalist greed and destroy them.
Corporations aren’t people and don’t behave like people. Giving credit to corporations doesn’t work in the long term, because people who work for them are constantly changing. The ones who did a good job may leave or get replaced, and the ones who take over may not care about maintaining their legacy.
Surely the inverse is also true then? People change, leadership changes, goals change so why assume the Microsoft of today is as bad as its past self?
I mean if they didn’t want a shit reputation, they shouldn’t have done those past ill deeds.
I actually drew that same Oracle comparison. They’ve made the occasionally bullshit effort, e.g. the API stuff with Google, but otherwise Java is just kinda Java. Fair point.