Developer Who Inspired Windows Package Manager Gets Official Credit

The Windows Package Manager WinGet made rounds in the news for a different reason. According to the developer of AppGet package manager, Keivan Beigi (@kayone), the core idea and some features of WinGet were inspired by his creation and proper credits were due.

Microsoft has now come forward to publically acknowledge that it contacted Beigi last summer regarding potential hiring. A blog post was published by Microsoft program manager Andrew Clinick who also handled the interview process last year.

It lists down some of the specific AppGet features that Microsoft adopted, although, using an indirect choice of words.

“There are a number of qualities in AppGet that really helped us get to a better product direction for WinGet,” the blog post reads.

The list includes features like seamless updates for applications in the repository, supporting all types of Windows application installers, rich manifest definition within GitHub, and no scripts during install.

Microsoft will add all due credits in an upcoming update to the Windows Package Manager repo, where Beigi’s name would appear in the read.me section.

Beigi is yet to comment on the blog post as he’s currently in discussion with Clinick, and hopefully, they will have something to share, he wrote on GitHub.

In the same GitHub thread, Clinick admitted that communication was improperly handled and apologized for not sending a personal email after the interview.

Beigi also wrote that he doesn’t want to be the enemy of WinGet or “ruin a product with the potential to do good, because of some personal vendetta.”

“Let’s keep in mind that there are probably many people involved in this project that had no idea what is happening and were just pouring their heart into their work and doing their best,” he added.

Moreover, the developer previously announced he is discontinuing AppGet from August 1. It remains to be seen what happens to the package manager which is currently in maintenance mode.