Developer claims Microsoft copied its package manager

The developer of AppGet claims that Microsoft copied the operation and design of its package manager for its own package manager winget. The developer has had several job interviews with Microsoft in the past year.

Microsoft has directly adopted the use of manifests and the folder structure from AppGet, according to Canadian developer Keivan Beigi. AppGet is open source and Beigi has not patented anything, making it unclear whether the developer can legally take action against the tech giant.

Beigi got in touch with Microsoft last summer and started talking about ideas for package managers in Windows. In addition, the company became interested in recruiting him and taking over AppGet. This led to various job interviews, with the last contact taking place in February about reimbursement of travel expenses. After that, Beigi heard nothing more from Microsoft.

Then, a day before the announcement, he received an email from the person with whom he had first contact at Microsoft that Microsoft was going to announce winget. In addition, Microsoft mentioned AppGet, but only in a row with different package managers.

Beigi has announced that it will stop developing AppGet, once Microsoft has announced winget. That will happen from August. Version 1.0 of the winget feature is on the roadmap for May 2021. However, Microsoft states that the company expects “substantial feedback” from the community, which may change the planning. Some major features are added to version 1.0, including the ability to update and uninstall apps via command prompt. Microsoft has not yet responded to the developer’s accusation.