Survey Results: Effect of Acquisition

For reactions and affected by this acquisition, we separate participants into three groups, (a) participants whose contributing projects are currently on GitHub, (b) participants whose project already moved away from GitHub and (c) participants whose project do not use GitHub. We design suitable questions for each group. We will now describe each group results.

Figure 2-4

Shows each participant groups

In group (a), we would like to know whether participants still have the potential to move away from GitHub. Consequently, we asked them about the idea to move away from GitHub.

The results show that most of 135 members in this group will continue to use GitHub, so this acquisition doesn't affect them. We also find that participants think it would not be a good idea to move the project away from GitHub. Participants have a variety of additional efforts to change platforms from GitHub to another platform.

In detail, Figure 3-1 indicates that 34.1% of 135 participants strongly disagree with the idea to move project away from GitHub. According to Figure 3-2, there is no outstanding choice, so participants have a variety of additional efforts to change platforms from GitHub to another platform.

Participant group (a), participants whose contributing projects are currently on GitHub

In group (b), we would like to know the opinion of Microsoft acquisition to GitHub from the members of a group (b) because they have already reacted to this acquisition.

Results of the survey indicate that most of 75 participants in this group think their move was strongly related to the acquisition. In addition, participants agree with their move and they require almost no effort to get accustomed to the new platform. However, they hesitate to answer does moving away from GitHub affects their contributions to their project.

In detail, according to Figure 4-1, 58.7% of participants think their move was strongly related to the acquisition. Figure 4-2 shows 65.3% of participants in this group strongly agree to their move. As shown in Figure 4-3, 55.3% of participants answer no opinion or neutral in the question “Does moving away from GitHub affects their contributions to their project?”, which means participants hesitate to answer this question. Figure 4-4 illustrates 36% of participants spent almost no effort to get accustomed to the new platform. Consequently, these results are similar to result in part 1, developers have a negative perspective on Microsoft.

Participant group (b), participants whose project already moved away from GitHub

In the last group, group (c), we would like know whether they have ideas of moving to GitHub, so we ask about the idea of moving to GitHub and their personal experiences with the GitHub platform.

As a result, most 31 participants do not receive any effect from this acquisition because they do not have any idea to move to GitHub although they have ever used GitHub personally. In addition, they think they have to use much effort to move to GitHub and many participants hesitate to answer how much additional effort will be required to get accustomed to the Github.

In detail, according to Figure 5-1, 80.6% from 31 participants think moving the project to GitHub is not a good idea, although Figure 5-3 shows 65.4% of the participants had ever used GitHub personally. Figure 5-2 illustrates 29% of participants hesitate to tell their effort to get accustomed to the other platform. However, 48.4% of participants think they use much additional effort to get accustomed to the other platform.

Participant group (c), participants whose project do not use GitHub