Microsoft acquired GitHub for $7.5 billion[1]. If Kubernetes were proprietary, could one value it at $7.5 billion? I think GitHub was acquired for the same reason Kubernetes was open sourced - to gain market share against AWS.

Microsoft has a similar service to GitHub called Azure DevOps[2]. It has been rebranded over the years. My guess is GitHub's brand will absorb Azure DevOps, even as far to rebrand everything in Azure to "GitHub Cloud".

The new war is in the cloud. Microsoft, Google, Oracle, and IBM have to pay a premium for a chance to catch AWS.

[1] https://news.microsoft.com/2018/06/04/microsoft-to-acquire-g...

[2] https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-rebrands-repositions...