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Microsoft Joins 5th Annual Open Source 'Hacktoberfest' (microsoft.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the ready-to-commit dept.

An anonymous reader writes: This October will see the fifth annual Hacktoberfest, "a month-long celebration of open source software run by DigitalOcean in partnership with GitHub and Twilio." Basically you sign up any time in October, then submit five quality pull requests to public GitHub repositories to win a t-shirt and stickers. (Issues and commits don't count, only pull requests created after October 1st -- but pull requests will still count even if they're not accepted or merged, "unless they are spam, irrelevant, or tagged as invalid.") "No contribution is too small -- bug fixes and documentation updates are valid ways of participating."
Here's Microsoft's own announcement about the event from their Open Source blog: We're excited to announce that we're participating in this year's Hacktoberfest! An annual celebration of all things open source, Hacktoberfest launched as a partnership between DigitalOcean and GitHub in 2014 and rallies a global community of contributors, with last year's event drawing more than 30K participants and nearly 240K pull requests.

This October, we'll recognize anyone who submits a pull request to one of our open source projects with a special limited-edition T-shirt (more details below)... Our projects span nearly all areas of computing, from developer tools and frameworks like .NET Core, Microsoft Cognitive Toolkit, Visual Studio Code, and Visual Studio Tools for Xamarin to Kubernetes tooling like Draft and the Service Fabric container orchestrator. Any contributions are welcome, so explore our GitHub repos, find something that interests you, and submit your first (or 100th) pull request.
Microsoft's t-shirt design includes a cameo appearance by.... Clippy, Microsoft's widely beloved default assistant for Office 2000/XP/2003.

30 comments

  1. My pull request by drinkypoo · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Dear Microsoft, your acquisition of github is already a big joke. So, go on, pull the other one.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  2. It figures by OneHundredAndTen · · Score: 1

    After all, when it comes to being hacked, MS are experts.

  3. Free labor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So for the cost of a t-shirt, I should give free labor to Microsoft, a company second only to Oracle in its abuse of customers and hostility towards the community?

    I'd rather donate my time to real free software projects than this crude simulation of a community effort designed only to benefit corporate sponsors.

  4. Spelling Error? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    From the Summary:
    "Microsoft's t-shirt design includes a cameo appearance by.... Clippy, Microsoft's widely beloved default assistant for Office 2000/XP/2003."

    You misspelled reviled as beloved.
    Clippy is Microsoft's widely reviled default assistant for Office 2000/XP/2003

    1. Re: Spelling Error? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      +1 wouldn't wear that crap

  5. Oh great... by QuietLagoon · · Score: 1

    ... now Microsoft can lower the quality of open source software also....

    1. Re:Oh great... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's not possible to lower the existing quality of open source any further.

    2. Re:Oh great... by bn-7bc · · Score: 1

      Oh is nginx, apache, pisrgresql etc such bad quality? Well that is news to me

    3. Re:Oh great... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, they truly are, and their communities beyond toxic.

    4. Re: Oh great... by spongman · · Score: 1

      Yeah I have filed several bugs against Nginx for not being standards compliant and non-interoperable with standards-compliant devices. Only to be met with the toxic reply of open-source projects everywhere: âoefix it yourself!â

    5. Re: Oh great... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you want it compliant, then pay money or do it yourself.

      They are not obligated to do WORK FOR YOU. That is not toxic.

    6. Re: Oh great... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Perfect example. Good job at pretending to be a typical FOSS asshole! ... you *were* pretending, right?

    7. Re: Oh great... by spongman · · Score: 1

      Yeah I think you just illustrated my point perfectly there, thanks.

  6. Labor Sets You Free by Kunedog · · Score: 1

    I'd rather donate my time to real free software projects than this crude simulation of a community effort designed only to benefit corporate sponsors.

    You would deny the Hacktoberfest?

    1. Re: Labor Sets You Free by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You goes do realize that you just need to submit a PR, doesn't matter what project. You are automagically entered to win

  7. We pulled the last Service Pack - We need coders! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "We pulled the last Service Pack - We need coders now!"

  8. Ugh, that shirt! by VicVegas · · Score: 1

    That t-shirt is incentive not to submit pull requests!

    1. Re:Ugh, that shirt! by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 1

      That t-shirt is incentive not to submit pull requests!

      Didn't you read Microsoft's new Github Terms & Conditions . . . ?

      Your use of Github allows Microsoft to dictate what you wear.

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    2. Re:Ugh, that shirt! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      bu..bu..bu........

      clippy is beloved, dammit... BELOVED !!!!

      (TIL)

    3. Re:Ugh, that shirt! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That t-shirt is incentive not to submit pull requests!

      Yep. I wouldn't even waste my time with a 'pull-my-finger' request.

  9. professionals get a ... sticker??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    so microsoft will give a STICKER to a professional coder for doing work, and they wonder why people aren't entering the software development field?

  10. FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm wearing out my DELETE key because of lame stories like these. And who the fuck gives a shit about some shirt with Clippy on it? *DELETE*

  11. Please make Windows open source by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe if Microsoft made Windows 10 open sourced we could at least get a bit less buggy releases. The question being, how many Insider's does it take to report a issue before the Windows team takes notice?? Well obviously a lot more then many would guess.

  12. clippy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Clippy was "beloved?"
    Last I heard, clippy was hated and was removed because of that.

    1. Re:clippy? by benjymouse · · Score: 1

      Clippy was "beloved?"

      Whooooosh

      --
      Reading slashdot one-liner: (irm http://rss.slashdot.org/Slashdot/slashdot).rdf.item | fl title,desc*
  13. T shirt and stickers? by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 1

    Why not add pizza and complete the cliche.

  14. I really hope they get booed out of the event by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Microsoft has done more harm to opensource than anyone else.

  15. Microsoft and Open Source? by Hallux-F-Sinister · · Score: 1

    Seems to me, Microsoft showing up at an event like this, pretending they want to embrace (and not extinguish, ultimately,) open source software is like the Russian government offering to help the US with election security. Or if you prefer, like the fox offering tips on hen-house security. Or the Hamburglar offering Ronald McDonald tips on sandwich security... etc. etc. etc.

    --
    Our reign has gone on long enough. Indeed. Summon the meteors.
  16. as much as i dislike MS by sad_ · · Score: 1

    As much as i dislike MS, i can hardly find anything wrong with this.
    OSS projects get more contributions, maybe even forever if some people find it fun & rewarding enough to keep working on it.

    --
    On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.