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OpenAI tries to build its coding cred, acquires Python toolmaker Astral (www.theregister.com)
submitted 3 weeks ago by throws_lemy@lemmy.nz to c/technology@lemmy.world
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In a move clearly designed to strengthen its position among developers, OpenAI has acquired Python tool maker Astral. The house of Altman expects the deal to strengthen the ecosystem for its Codex programming agent.

Since its founding in 2022 by Charlie Marsh, Astral has won over a substantial portion of the Python community with Rust-based tools like uv (package and project manager), Ruff (linting and formatting), and ty (type checker) that outperform Python-based tools like pip.

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[-] TheBlackLounge@lemmy.zip 4 points 3 weeks ago

How are they competition? Astral's tools solve the same problems for humans and AI.

[-] wingswithbones@lemmus.org -1 points 3 weeks ago

I’m not sure if you’re serious but now this company is no longer competing in the market against companies like OpenAI and is instead owned by OpenAI

I honestly cannot help you if that is not enough for you to understand the basic issue

[-] TheBlackLounge@lemmy.zip 4 points 3 weeks ago

They were not competing before? Astral's product is private package repo's. Maybe that will get abandoned but the FOSS projects are safe.

[-] wingswithbones@lemmus.org -1 points 3 weeks ago

the team that used to work on Astral now works for OpenAI and will now only operate under its direction and for its interests. Whatever you’re talking about is a separate issue

[-] partofthevoice@lemmy.zip 3 points 3 weeks ago

That’s not how competition works. Astral made a different product, served different audiences, and the markets were not competitive. Astral made tools that help a human developer organize and maintain their code. Nothing to do with chatbots. The team now being at OpenAI means jack shit about anticompetitive practices.

This is sad because Astral made good open source tools and I don’t trust OpenAI to keep that up.

this post was submitted on 20 Mar 2026
76 points (96.3% liked)

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