How about some good news to start your Wednesday off? It seems Discord are no longer in talks with Microsoft and instead may go with an IPO (initial public offering).
Reported again by the WSJ, this should put to rest the recent rumours and speculation on it. This is a good thing, considering Microsoft already hold a huge amount of power from gaming companies to GitHub, the last thing we need is even more consolidation of power.
Valued at around $7 billion, Discord itself holds a lot of power with 140 million active users according to backlinko. That has been doubled since 2019 so they're still growing pretty impressively. Discord also makes $130 million in annual revenue, plus they've raised $483.8 million across various funding rounds so there's a lot of interest in them. Considering all that, they will probably do quite well during an IPO so it's not surprising they decided to stay independent.
As a reminder you can join our Discord, or if you prefer more open source communication we have an IRC and Matrix too.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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To be honest, I'm not sure becoming a publicly tradeable company on one's own is giving more independence than being a small part of Microsoft.
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StalePopcorn Apr 21, 2021
I applaud their not becoming another WhatsApp
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MisterPaytwick Apr 21, 2021
Beyond Microsoft being Microsoft, one should simply look at the history of Microsoft applications, from messenger, to teams to skype, there is a large amount of those communication apps own by them that are but shells of what they used to be. The reasons? Most likely the landscape changed and they couldn't follow it as they wouldn't dictate it (Microsoft is a behemoth with so much inertia those "side" apps seems to always end up abandoned)
It's some good news but it could get worst depending on the IPO result. Imagine it being Tencent or Facebook acquiring it, I'm not sure it'd be better, but I'm pretty sure it'd be a problematic.
It's some good news but it could get worst depending on the IPO result. Imagine it being Tencent or Facebook acquiring it, I'm not sure it'd be better, but I'm pretty sure it'd be a problematic.
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Quoting: MisterPaytwickIt's some good news but it could get worst depending on the IPO result. Imagine it being Tencent or Facebook acquiring it, I'm not sure it'd be better, but I'm pretty sure it'd be a problematic.
Depends what you mean by being better.
M$ issue is that it slowly corrupt and destroy any social app it touches. Messenger, Skype, Skyper for Business (God save us!) and even Teams (though Teams design imho was good, the issue I had with it was that it was down 2 days per week when I was using that - before covid. Dunno how's now. My new employer uses SfB. Sadly.). So bad would mean non viable Discord in 3 to 5 years, but likely an attractive alternative will appear and people would flock there as they always when it comes to M$ building crappy walls.
FB and Tencent though are good at what they do so I don't think they would destroy Discord. On the contrary. But one uses his services to spy and manipolate you while the other spies, then profile and occasionally even censor you. So either you bend the knee or you outcast yourself to some open source and free alternative... with the other handful of outcasts.
Last edited by Mal on 21 April 2021 at 5:34 pm UTC
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So the embrace phase haven't started (yet)
Last edited by BielFPs on 21 April 2021 at 4:20 pm UTC
Last edited by BielFPs on 21 April 2021 at 4:20 pm UTC
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Quoting: MalSo either you bend the knee or you outcast yourself to some open source and free alternative... the other handful of outcasts.
I embrace being an outcast.
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I think it may be a good thing for the Discord employees. Any with shares could get a nice profit after the IPO. If MS bought them outright then only the execs would benefit.
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Quoting: GuestQuoteHow about some good news to start your Wednesday off?Enterprise A selling your private data is not going to join Enterprise B selling your private data. I do not understand where the good news is here.
It's good news for me. I'm comfortable with the little data that I share by using Discord while they conduct their business an independent firm. However, I'm not at all comfortable with the idea that my account, data or use of that system is contributing to a statistic that enhances Microsoft's death grip on the tech industry.
I won't support anything to do with Microsoft or Apple. They're poison to my passion - technology and innovation. Discord remaining free of their control is definitely good news, for me.
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Quoting: GuestSecondarily, what makes the data thing important is that it all gets combined to make a surprisingly comprehensive picture. The more your data is collected by separate silos rather than conglomerates that can aggregate it all, the better.Quoting: scaineI'm comfortable with the little data that I share by using Discord while they conduct their business an independent firm. (…) I won't support anything to do with Microsoft or Apple.I do not share your point of view, but I can understand it
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Like I say, I'm comfortable with the data I share - I treat Discord like a public forum, along the same lines as Twitter. Otherwise, Discord has only the usual information for such a service - Email, IP address, DeviceID, messages. They can probably glean a few other things, like the browser or O/S I use.
I don't like that it collects process information, so I don't use the full-fat app anymore.
If you're uncomfortable with the data Discord collects, you're probably uncomfortable using pretty much every messaging service out there, certainly all the social media services.
What I'm not comfortable with is supporting a company that is ethically compromised. I've stopped using plenty of services as a result of what they did, or who owns them. Everyone will find their own footing on this stuff. For me, MS and Apple are a hard no. Amazon is an avoid if possible (which is hard) and Google is an air of resignation - I'm too invested in their infrastructure now, so I accept it for convenience sake. If they ever cross a line, I'll reconsider, but it would difficult to give up... well, nearly everything - Gmail, Calendar, Android, Youtube mainly, but a host of other services too, like Calendar, some light Drive use, even DNS on my router. Google are everywhere.
I don't like that it collects process information, so I don't use the full-fat app anymore.
If you're uncomfortable with the data Discord collects, you're probably uncomfortable using pretty much every messaging service out there, certainly all the social media services.
What I'm not comfortable with is supporting a company that is ethically compromised. I've stopped using plenty of services as a result of what they did, or who owns them. Everyone will find their own footing on this stuff. For me, MS and Apple are a hard no. Amazon is an avoid if possible (which is hard) and Google is an air of resignation - I'm too invested in their infrastructure now, so I accept it for convenience sake. If they ever cross a line, I'll reconsider, but it would difficult to give up... well, nearly everything - Gmail, Calendar, Android, Youtube mainly, but a host of other services too, like Calendar, some light Drive use, even DNS on my router. Google are everywhere.
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