Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has announced a dramatic restructuring of the company's engineering organization, which is pivoting the company's focus to developing the tools that will underpin agentic AI.
Dubbed "CoreAI - Platform and Tools," the new division rolls the existing AI platform team and the previous developer division (responsible for everything from .NET to Visual Studio) along with some other teams into one big group.
As for what this group will be doing specifically, it's basically everything that's mission-critical to Microsoft in 2025, as Nadella tells it:
GitHub is Microsoft's code-hosting platform that lets users collaborate on open-source projects.
GitHub has a free version, and several tiers of paid subscription versions.
GitHub is extremely popular among software developers, and is used by most Fortune 100 companies.
If you're interested in software or software development, you've likely heard of GitHub.
For a coder, GitHub is akin to what Pinterest offers to an interior designer β a place where a person goes not just to upload content, but also for creative inspiration and collaboration.
The company bills itself as the world's leading software development platform, and says over 100 million developers use GitHub, as well as 90% of Fortune 100 companies.
GitHub is owned by Microsoft. The company was founded in 2007, but Microsoft acquired it in 2018 for $7.5 billion in stock, and Microsoft's CEO said at the time that the deal would "strengthen our commitment to developer freedom, openness and innovation."
GitHub has also recently integrated Copilot, Microsoft's AI tool. CEO Satya Nadella said in a July 2024 Microsoft earnings call that Copilot is "by far the most widely adopted AI-powered developer tool," and is responsible for 40% of GitHub's revenue growth.
GitHub's annual revenue run rate is now $2 billion, thanks to Copilot and GitHub's premium subscriptions.
Here's what you need to know about GitHub and how it relates to coding.
What is GitHub?
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has said the Copilot AI tool is responsible for 40% of GitHub's growth.
Associated Press/Dita Alangkara
GitHub is, fundamentally, a hosting platform for coders. The cloud-based service allows coders to effectively manage and maintain open-source programming projects while collaborating with others.
To understand how GitHub works, you have to have an understanding of "Git" and the idea of "version control" in relation to Git.
Git, started by Linux creator Linus Torvalds, is an open-source version control system that tracks changes in files over time.
Version control is an important system when it comes to coding. It enables coders to be nimble with programming, and allows for apps to constantly have new version releases, expansion to other platforms, and bug fixes, among other tracked changes.
Version control systems like Git help maintain the integrity and security of ever-evolving code by safeguarding modifications, and those revisions are then hosted by GitHub, or an alternative "repository" hosting service β although GitHub is the most popular among developers.
This allows developers to easily collaborate, allowing them to download a new version of the software, make changes, and upload the newest revision. Every developer can see these new changes, download them, and contribute.
There are disadvantages to Github, too. GitHub users have been vocal in the past about complaints with the platform; some say GitHub is expensive, buggy, and insufficient for large teams.
Is GitHub free to use?
GitHub has a free version with limited bandwidth and storage, and two paid versions. The Team subscription is geared towards individuals and organizations seeking "advanced collaboration" options, and costs $4 per user per month.
The Enterprise subscription costs $21 per user per month, and has the same advantages as Team, plus a host of other advanced features, greater security, and premium support services.
How to start using Github
If you're looking for a resource to maintain and share code, you can easily install Git and sign up for GitHub for free. Here's how to get started:
1. First, you'll need to install the Git version control system, which you can download for free. Follow the directions specific to the device you're using.
2. Next, you can create your GitHub account at GitHub.com. A free account will have some limitations, but gives you access to both public and private repositories.
Once you've downloaded Git, enter your email address and create a username and password for your GitHub account.
Michelle Mark/Business Insider
3. With your free account, you can get started right away and create a repository by clicking Create a repository on the GitHub homepage to start a new project.
You can create a repository, explore existing repositories, or watch an introduction to GitHub video through this page.
Michelle Mark/Business Insider
From the same page, you can also access learning materials like a "What is GitHub?" video or an exercise in GitHub flow if you need more expertise before getting started with creating a repository.
Welcome back to Week in Review. This week, weβre looking at OpenAIβs last β and biggest β announcement from its β12 Days of OpenAIβ event; Appleβs potential entrance into the foldable market; and why Databricks is choosing to wait to go public. Letβs get into it. P.S. Weβre off for the holidays! Week in Review [β¦]
Microsoft-owned GitHub announced on Wednesday a free version of its popular Copilot code completion/AI pair programming tool, which will also now ship by default with Microsoftβs popular VS Code editor. Until now, most developers had to pay a monthly fee, starting at $10 per month, with only verified students, teachers, and open source maintainers getting [β¦]
A sophisticated and ongoing supply-chain attack operating for the past year has been stealing sensitive login credentials from both malicious and benevolent security personnel by infecting them with Trojanized versions of open source software from GitHub and NPM, researchers said.
The campaign, first reported three weeks ago by security firm Checkmarx and again on Friday by Datadog Security Labs, uses multiple avenues to infect the devices of researchers in security and other technical fields. One is through packages that have been available on open source repositories for over a year. They install a professionally developed backdoor that takes pains to conceal its presence. The unknown threat actors behind the campaign have also employed spear phishing that targets thousands of researchers who publish papers on the arXiv platform.
Unusual longevity
The objectives of the threat actors are also multifaceted. One is the collection of SSH private keys, Amazon Web Services access keys, command histories, and other sensitive information from infected devices every 12 hours. When this post went live, dozens of machines remained infected, and an online account on Dropbox contained some 390,000 credentials for WordPress websites taken by the attackers, most likely by stealing them from fellow malicious threat actors. The malware used in the campaign also installs cryptomining software that was present on at least 68 machines as of last month.
The open source funding problem is very real, but a slew of initiatives have emerged of late, with startups, corporations, and venture capitalists launching various programs to support some of the most critical projects via equity-free financing. Today itβs GitHubβs turn, launching the GitHub Secure Open Source Fund with an initial commitment of $1.25 million [β¦]
