Farewell GitHub, Hello Immersive Computing

http://tom.preston-werner.com/2014/04/21/farewell-github-hello-immersive-computing.html

by Dorian-Marie • 12 years ago

348 83 12 years ago

simondlr• 12 years ago

Please tell me he is going to work on VR coding! This can't come soon enough. Multiple screens (more than the usual 2), more visualizations. Epic.

lsaferite• 12 years ago

Once I realized how a VR headset working in AR mode could do away with my multiple monitor setup, I was overjoyed. Now the tech needs to catch up with the possibility.

awnird• 12 years ago

Will his wife also have access to private servers at his new company?

Mikeb85• 12 years ago

Who cares? If its VR, its likely not a SaaS where they store customer info...

imbriaco• 12 years ago

She didn't have access to private servers at his old company. Please stop making up things like this that have no basis in reality.

why-el• 12 years ago

Now this is classless nonsense.

tptacek3• 12 years ago

Best of luck to you both.

yukichan2• 12 years ago

...the results of GitHub's independent investigation unequivocally confirm this and we are prepared to fight any further false claims on this matter to the full extent of the law.

Seems like a legal threat to Horvath if she speaks up about this again.

antr• 12 years ago

sounds more like a fact https://github.com/blog/1823-results-of-the-github-investiga...

edit: re. "unequivocally confirm this and we are prepared to fight any further false claims"

aaronblohowiak• 12 years ago

Seems like a promise to defend one's public identity from attack. Burden of proof lies on the accuser, not on the accused.

danielweber• 12 years ago

In science, maybe.

But in American courts, if I call you a dog-fornicator, you generally have to prove to the court you aren't a dog-fornicator to get damages. (Plus a bunch of other stuff, like actual damages, unless it's per-se defamation, except if . . . . There's a lot that could be added to this, hence my "generally.")

tptacek3• 12 years ago

That's definitely the most dramatic possible interpretation, and is thus the one the Internet will fixate on. Giant crowds of uninformed bystanders can be counted on never to pick the most boring narrative.

yukichan2• 12 years ago

What is a less dramatic interpretation?

mtrimpe2• 12 years ago

It's probably aimed more at reminding GitHub employees of the possible legal ramifications of publicly supporting the allegations and dampening further discussion in general.

I don't see how that's less dramatic though, especially since the meaning of that statement is pretty obvious.

Whether you interpret it as normal, like you do, or inappropriate and/or sad, like I would, is a different matter.

acjohnson55• 12 years ago

That being the case, perhaps he should have chosen the words of such a high profile message more carefully.

dinkumthinkum• 12 years ago

That's a little head in the sand, though isn't it? The phrase "full extent of the law" is pretty charged, I think.

avenger123• 12 years ago

I asked this on the main thread on this, but why hasn't Horvath filed a lawsuit. There seems to be enough there for one on some merit.

calibraxis2• 12 years ago

Could you please remind us your credentials in this case, or are you yourself some "uninformed bystander" on "the Internet"? (If you're in the middle of this, perhaps you should link to it each time you comment.)

sergiotapia• 12 years ago

Good. If you make claims you should be prepared to back them up - especially when someones livelihood is on the line.

ceejayoz2• 12 years ago

That can mean only the people able to hire a high-end legal team can receive justice.

facepalm3• 12 years ago

Don't know about the US, but where I live making wrong claims that damage somebody's reputation is illegal. I think it makes lot of sense to sue people who accuse you of sexual harassment. What other recourse is there? Arguing about it will never work.

xerophtye• 12 years ago

US has a law against libel too

baddox2• 12 years ago

Or to anyone who makes further false claims. Seems like a standard line.

hadoukenio2• 12 years ago

Well, if Julie ever spoke up again, I would be the first up my hand and donate to her legal defence.

yawboakye5• 12 years ago

If she doesn't feel vindicated, sure, we'd support her lawsuit against both GitHub and P-W. Also it depends on what she says, not forgetting we interpret situations differently and with different levels of intensity. She should tread cautiously.

facepalm3• 12 years ago

Just curious, what would be your motivation? Do you know her personally?

vowelless• 12 years ago

As a fan of his technical work and leadership of Github, I wish him the best of luck and am excited to see what he comes up with.

jusben1369• 12 years ago

I thought it strange he dedicated real estate on this posting to his wife's new project. Seems a bit tone deaf given the thrust of the incident appeared to be the fact that his wife had oversized influence at GitHub.

gdubs• 12 years ago

It's his personal site...

calibraxis2• 12 years ago

we are prepared to fight any further false claims on this matter to the full extent of the law.

You'll "strive to do better"? Maybe cut down on the legal threats against subordinates who speak out against you...

The results of GitHub's independent investigation unequivocally confirm this

Do bosses know how employees with critical-thinking skills perceive such claims? (In my experience: with contempt.)

I'm also insanely excited about the future.

Like Tom Cruise? Pathologically happy in situations where sane people would be rather bummed, perhaps self-critical or contemplative?

oldgun• 12 years ago

Too sad about this. Wish him a good start somewhere else and build equally amazing products.

jw2013• 12 years ago

Can anybody tell me what company he is starting? From the article it seems vague and probably he does not even have a specific idea yet. Would love to join if the plan is more specific.

arfliw• 12 years ago

It's obviously not a "company" yet. Shoot him an email and ask what his plans are.

facepalm3• 12 years ago

All the other crap aside, I kind of envy him for getting into VR now. The recent news about Oculus, and reading "Masters Of Doom", have somehow given me a renewed excitement for the field again. What if those snow crash visions could become a reality after all? (Sans the sword fighting, I think it is not possible because of the speed of light?).

I'd be excited to work in that area, but I have no idea how to go about it in a sensible way. I mean how could I contribute as a single individual, without having a company on my hands?

general_failure• 12 years ago

Totally agree here. I have not seen any major innovations come out from github recently. It's a great product already and something phenomenal has to happen to make me take notice. In VR, I imagine the barriers to making an impression are lot lesser.

issaria• 12 years ago

Oh, you must have forgotten Atom

shurcooL• 12 years ago

During my time away from GitHub I started experimenting with Go, OpenGL, and Unity with an eye towards the software side of immersive computing.

That is extremely exciting to me. It's no secret I'm a big fan of Go, and seeing someone as influential as Tom pick it up is great to hear. I'm looking forward to following what comes out of this.

humanrebar2• 12 years ago

Go is an odd choice for such a graphics-heavy domain. If it works out well, I'll be very interested to hear more about that combination of technologies.

kyrra• 12 years ago

It's just as odd as using OpenGL from Java, right? The main issue I've seen people have with Go and using it for gaming or heavy graphics use is that it is garbage collected. But compared to the Java Hotspot runtime, it's gc isn't nearly as robust.

paulhodge• 12 years ago

He's almost definitely using Go for the server-side and Unity+OpenGL for the client side. It would be really bizarre to try to use Go and Unity in the same client-side app.

rdl• 12 years ago

Tangentially, his wife's startup https://omakasecharity.org/ actually looks pretty interesting; one of the most exciting things of the past year has been how tech people (YC, etc.) have gotten involved in new kinds of charities, rather than just donating to existing ones. I guess I'd argue Bill Gates was the one who kicked this all off, with a strict program of accountability, but the smaller startups actually use technology to accomplish their missions in a new and more effective way.

judk2• 12 years ago

Founding new charities has been the hobby of wealthy society types since time immemorial. It is much more ego-stroking than joining one of the many groups already doing great work.

rrggrr• 12 years ago

"I tried to treat people better than they expected"

Is it me or does this sound horribly arrogant?

mildtrepidation• 12 years ago

Not necessarily. As a small business owner, I aspire to this as well, if only because my experience has been "I expect my employers to get all they can out of my while paying me the bare minimum and treating me as poorly as I'll tolerate."

Granted, this is just my perspective, but that does suggest that this statement can mean various things depending on who you are and how you've been treated yourself.

crusso• 12 years ago

I don't read it that way at all. I read it that he tries to exceed people's expectations in his personal relations.

If it sounds "horribly arrogant", then I think that sounds horribly negative and judgemental.

swombat• 12 years ago

Doesn't sound arrogant to me either. It's a bit like saying "I tried to exceed my customers' expectations"... in fact, it means exactly that...

Jare• 12 years ago

It would be arrogant if it said "I treated people better than they deserved".

atonse• 12 years ago

I really don't understand some of these responses:

1) GitHub doesn't owe us the details of the investigation - what difference does it make to anyone apart from creating more fodder for gossip? This is an internal company matter.

2) Regarding Tom's "threat" - This is pretty much the largest "resolution" that could've come out of this, right? Some of Horvath's allegations were true and a high-profile founder has resigned. The way I read it was: What more is there to do? I think that's what he means. "I've resigned, isn't that enough? If you want to keep pursuing it, what's left to seek? At that point it's personal and my wife and I will respond appropriately."

Pacabel2• 12 years ago

I don't think that anyone is claiming that GitHub "owes" the community the details.

While this may have been an "internal company matter" initially, it did eventually become very public. There has already been a huge amount of speculation out in the open regarding whatever might have happened in this case, much of it quite negative.

So given all of this speculation and gossip, it's not at all surprising that there are people, including users and customers of GitHub, who just want some facts. And there's nothing unreasonable about them requesting such information, especially when it's paying customers doing the asking.

yawboakye5• 12 years ago

... especially when it's paying customers doing the asking. Bullshit. I'm a paying GitHub customer ($7/mo) and I'm not interested in the details. I think I'm more interested in the company recovering as quickly as possible to deliver more awesomeness. How does asking for unnecessary detail help that?

smokinjoe• 12 years ago

1. Wouldn't additional details from GitHub help in reducing the gossip from a company that plenty of people depend on and pay for?

2. Fair assumption, although it seems like litigation is really the next step so it's not necessarily surprising that he's made that statement/threat. It makes sense, his rep has taken quite a hit and yet we still have no solid facts in the public - if people want to continue the he-said/she-said then let's at least do it in court.

quaunaut• 12 years ago

Specifically #2- not entirely. Apparently the engineer who sexually harassed her was recently promoted to Engineering lead.

Edit: I'm not stating an opinion in any direction here, just relaying information for discussion. In all honesty, this entire thing looks like one big cartoon dustcloud of a fight and taking any sides here would be bad judgment on my part.

MarkTee• 12 years ago

Regarding #1:

While I agree that the majority of the investigation isn't relevant to those outside of the company, there is a major topic that hasn't been addressed: the assertion that a non-employee was continuously present in the office and had access to private info.

That's extremely relevant to customers, and makes one question GitHub's security/privacy practices.

grrowl• 12 years ago

a non-employee was continuously present in the office and had access to private info.

It should be noted "private info" was simply github employee chat rooms (and history), not unfettered access to any customer info.

n72• 12 years ago

Jeez, so when does The Wives of Silicon Valley start? The whole tech scene in SF has turned into such a little soap opera, cult of personality, wank fest.

taude• 12 years ago

Hence the popularity of that Secret App.

itazula2• 12 years ago

I know that complaining about tone is low on Paul Graham's hierarchy of disagreement, but "I'm telling you this because I think stealth mode is bullshit" doesn't exactly win me over. I'm glad my dog doesn't talk that way to me.

nkohari• 12 years ago

I'm no expert, but if your dog is talking to you, you may have bigger problems than the tone in an open letter from Tom Preston-Werner.

itazula2• 12 years ago

I'll play it safe, and make sure he doesn't read that letter. ;-)

mundanevoice• 12 years ago

If you haven't read already, check this: https://medium.com/p/d96f431f4e8e

She did a lot of wrong things:

- Dating a coworker is not one of the best practise.

- gossiping around about your co-workers/founders character is the also not the best thing to do.

- If you write shit code, your code will be removed. She is definitely not known for her coding abilities. She is just a melodrama queen who is bad at heart, opportunist, blackmailed founder to poison the company atmosphere.

- You can create a healthy workspace shouting "Women Women" every time. We work with women too. Our behaviour and respect is based on compassion and professionalism. They are just like any other person in the company.

- The real story must have been that she is a bad/mediocre developer who was being reviewed which didn't turned out pretty well (Obv since she was busy bitching against coworkers). The only good way she had to abuse and insult the company publically , get sympathy and then a Job. She seems to have good PR skills. (Pun intended)

Again, here are some of her recent tweets:

https://twitter.com/nrrrdcore/status/458347574672388096 https://twitter.com/nrrrdcore/status/458345005866696704

xiaoma• 12 years ago

Here's my one and only interaction with the author:

I met Tom a couple of years ago when I first got to SF. It was at a bar in the mission that was holding an international get together for github users. I'll never forget the impression he made on me. We talked for a good while, most about drawing.

Since I was totally new to town (and had spent most my adult life outside the US), I had no idea who he was. I'd used github but didn't know much about it and certainly didn't know who he was. I love drawing and sketching and it was actually via a flash game tutorial on Kongretate.com that I found my first serious entry point into programming. Telling Tom about this, he started talking about drawing octocats and the entire conversation was about artwork. Until someone told me otherwise about half an hour later, I thought he was the "octocat guy", an artist who happened to be at a nice company.

It's really rare in my life when I've been shocked by someone's humility and congeniality, but meeting Tom was one of those times. I'll also say that in the intervening two years, I've gotten to know the product quite well and really hope the best both for Github and his upcoming venture.

Edit: I've been an HN user since almost the beginning and I have to say this is saddening. It boggles the mind that sharing a brief story of meeting with author of the piece and wishes for the success of both Github and the future venture is something that warrants multiple down votes.

Farewell GitHub, Hello Immersive Computing

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