OpenAI employees really, really did not want to go work for Microsoft

Lee Duna@lemmy.nz to Technology@lemmy.world – 360 points –
OpenAI employees really, really did not want to go work for Microsoft
businessinsider.com
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My favorite part about the Microsoft translation is that MS reportedly had to go out and buy a bunch of MacOS machines for the Open AI folks because they didn’t want to use the operating system that their future employer made.

I wonder if Apple’s two week return policy works for enterprise purchases of hundreds of machines.

I can assure you that Microsoft already purchases a ton of Macs. They develop software for Mac and iOS, after all.

Do they just hand them out though to developers?

Edit: it’s a question, why the downvotes? Can I ask a question? Y’all are a tough crowd.

Yup they do, I worked there. Had 2 macs and an iPhone for development. Many employees use Mac laptops over surfaces as well

Were you working specifically on Mac or iPhone related software? If I’m an Azure developer, can I use a Mac?

I worked on an app team, PowerPoint. After Balmer left, policies changed such that any new office app features had to ship on both windows and Mac at the same time. (Or least try to)

So I think that definitely helped and allowed people to request macs as thier laptops. For azure, I'm not sure..

Maybe not MacBooks, but some OSX device is needed if you want to develop for iOS. And I don't see why they wouldn't do that, a Mac is not that expensive from a business point of view.

No they don't. Microsoft makes software. Outsourcing making software makes no sense.

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Hardly any startups in Silicon Valley use Windows.

That's wild. I can't dev for shit on a MacBook. I usually have to install Parallels or something if that's the case.

Or use Linux (when possible).

It makes sense. You can develop for Windows and Linux on Mac, but you can't develop for Mac or iOS anywhere else but on Mac; at least not easily. In my job, I develop full stack web but also device code for Windows, Mac, and ChromeOS. It's way more convenient for me to use a Mac with VMware running Windows and ChromeOS than trying to cobble together a device lab.

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