Saying "I'm sorry" when you don't have to is worth praise. Saying it when your back is to the wall and your job is on the line - even cowards can do that.
I agree it's one of the best-written apologies I've heard in a while, and they deserve some praise for not letting the corporate ~bullshit~ PR department run loose all over it.
But still. I suggest that whoever is responsible should resign as a result of this Pendogate business. I feel that he has betrayed users' trust in a way where an apology alone is not sufficient. I personally consider the original plan - we'll lock you out of your accounts and disable the API until you accept our new TOS, if you don't like it there's the door - far worse than anything Brendan Eich ever did, for example. I don't want people who ever think that could be an acceptable idea in charge of a company I rely on day-to-day.
Replacing him would be a very strong signal from Gitlab's board that they are truly sorry and understand the severity of this scandal, and would also encourage future CFOs to take their users' views more seriously.
It is pathetic in a way that while lots of people were worried that Microsoft would "corporatise" github, it's gitlab that decided it was ok to threaten to lock people out from their accounts until they "consented" to this.
_EDIT: Paul Machle is CFO, Sid Sijbrandij is CEO and the person who sent the apology. I have removed names from the original post as I am not sure which of them signed off the original idea. I expect a CEO to take the attitude "the buck stops with me" though - they should be accountable even if they're not directly responsible._
I agree it's one of the best-written apologies I've heard in a while, and they deserve some praise for not letting the corporate ~bullshit~ PR department run loose all over it.
But still. I suggest that whoever is responsible should resign as a result of this Pendogate business. I feel that he has betrayed users' trust in a way where an apology alone is not sufficient. I personally consider the original plan - we'll lock you out of your accounts and disable the API until you accept our new TOS, if you don't like it there's the door - far worse than anything Brendan Eich ever did, for example. I don't want people who ever think that could be an acceptable idea in charge of a company I rely on day-to-day.
Replacing him would be a very strong signal from Gitlab's board that they are truly sorry and understand the severity of this scandal, and would also encourage future CFOs to take their users' views more seriously.
It is pathetic in a way that while lots of people were worried that Microsoft would "corporatise" github, it's gitlab that decided it was ok to threaten to lock people out from their accounts until they "consented" to this.
_EDIT: Paul Machle is CFO, Sid Sijbrandij is CEO and the person who sent the apology. I have removed names from the original post as I am not sure which of them signed off the original idea. I expect a CEO to take the attitude "the buck stops with me" though - they should be accountable even if they're not directly responsible._