Guido van Rossum Un-Retires to Join Microsoft

Python creator Guido van Rossum, who had been at Google for a number of years:

I decided that retirement was boring and have joined the Developer Division at Microsoft. To do what? Too many options to say! But it’ll make using Python better for sure (and not just on Windows :-). There’s lots of open source here. Watch this space.

I’ve always admired Python as an outside observer, but this year my son is taking a computer science class using it, so I’m getting first-hand experience with writing it as I help him with assignments, and my suspicions have been confirmed. Python is a fun language. It doesn’t help you be a show off, it just helps you express your ideas in code. Looking forward to what Van Rossum does next at Microsoft.

How crazy, too, is it that Microsoft, of all companies, is now a welcome home for a cross-platform open-source icon like Van Rossum? Based on recent history, Van Rossum landing there isn’t surprising at all. Historically speaking, though, it’s unimaginable. If you took a time machine back to 2000 and told a crowd of Python enthusiasts that in 2020 Guido van Rossum would be working at Microsoft, half of them wouldn’t believe you and the other half would pass out.

★ Thursday, 12 November 2020