What We're Reading: Microsoft/GitHub; a new podcast; and a front-seat driver

Five years ago, there wasn’t a lot of love between Microsoft and the open source world, many of whom referred to the tech giant as the “Great Satan.” Company executives had a plan to acquire GitHub, the popular open source digital workshop, but knew it wasn’t time yet. There was still too much antipathy out there.

“Developers — many of whom viewed Microsoft as public enemy No. 1 for its attacks on freely distributed open source software — would have rioted,” says Scott Guthrie, the company’s chief of cloud. "The open source world would’ve rightly looked at us at the time as the antichrist. We didn’t have the credibility that we have now around open source."

The deal went through a year ago, and all seems fine. But the backstory remains fascinating.

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Luke Fretwell is a guy who likes a lot on his plate. He’s the founder of GovFresh, a germinator, incubator and propagator of innovation in government IT and procurement. He’s also CEO of ProudCity, a civic engagement platform that makes it easy and cost-effective to launch all aspects of digital government operations. He also blogs, and his columns periodically appear in Techwire.

Now he’s about to get even busier.

“Two years ago,” he writes, “I had an idea for a podcast that focused on the whole of government, and how big thinkers are re-imagining and changing how civil society operates along the civic spectrum. The idea, which I named The Government We Need, has been sitting on the back burner since.”

Just what form that takes is still in development. So far, he’s created a strategy document and a website, and he’s put out a call for others to join him.

“My intent in writing about this is to share it with the world in the hopes that others might find this project interesting and want to work with me on it or take it over themselves.” Anyone interested in finding out more is invited to contact him at thegovweneed@govfresh.com.

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Nobody likes a backseat driver, but Google takes a backseat to no one when it comes to anticipating your needs. Its Google Maps not only tells you how to get where you’re going; it can also keep an eye on the speedometer for you. Engadget has the details:

“Google Maps is rolling out an optional speedometer that kicks in while you're using driving navigation. It displays next to the current speed limit and changes color if you flaunt the law. Much like a similar Waze feature, you won't have to wonder if you're going too fast.”

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Nevada County’s award-winning chief information officer, Steve Monaghan, this week unveiled the county’s new website. It’s a clean design, loaded with information and easily navigable.

The website also features a new community wildfire preparedness page with “everything our citizens need to prepare; based on the national Ready, Set, Go methodology and content,” Monaghan says in a LinkedIn post announcing the new site. “The site is hosted on our main county website CivicPlus platform with a custom department header and branding. Check it out and let me know what you think.”

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When critics says it’s time to break up the giant tech companies, Viktor Mayer-Schönberger, a professor of Internet governance and regulation at the Oxford Internet Institute, has another idea: Don’t break them up, just make them share their data.

An article on MIT Technology Review explains that Mayer-Schönberger’s assertion is that breaking up Google “will make tools like search worse without making it easier for startups to build good alternatives.”

He suggests a “progressive data-sharing mandate” that requires companies of a certain size to share some of their data, anonymized for privacy, with smaller competitors.