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There's a real danger I think in relying on a proprietary software program for something so key as text editing. For many developers, their editor will be with
by mattl 9y ago
There's a real danger I think in relying on a proprietary software program for something so key as text editing. For many developers, their editor will be with them for their whole career. Proprietary software has a tendency to not stick around.
I hope to see Sublime eventually released under a free software license. I'd donate to that project.
- lfowles 9y agoI'm not sure I've seen a text editor that was revolutionary enough that I would consider myself crippled if it didn't stick around.
- noir_lord 9y agoEditor no, IDE yes. I'd be able to function without intellij ultimate but it would be incredibly painful and I'd permanently be slower.
- gkya 9y agoEmacs? I'd either implement my own version / maintain my own fork or stop using computers.
- lfowles 9y agoI have a feeling that emacs/vim in some form are going to stick around longer than I'll care about using computers to edit text, so it wasn't even on my radar :)
- dotancohen 9y agoI used to think that, until I discovered the IDEA suite (PyCharm, PHPStorm, etc). And many devs use Windows as well. The OS is no less important than the text editor. I still use VIM often enough to stay proficient with it, mostly via SSH, but I'll happily use the closed source IDEA editors when they are available.
- mattl 9y ago> The OS is no less important than the text editor. Depends what you're doing, I suppose. If you're doing web development, Python, Ruby, PHP, C, JavaScript, etc... I don't think being on any particular OS is more important than your tools.
- dotancohen 9y agoAssuming that the tools run on any OS. Mac users especially seem to rely on tools available only on that platform.
- criddell 9y agoIt's not that hard to switch, especially for a developer that lives in the software. It might take a few days, but if your brain is still fairly plastic, you will adapt. If you are like my parents that can't get on the internet if the browser icon disappears from their desktop, then there might be a problem.
- mahyarm 9y agoSomething I've realized is a lot of our habits transfer over from app to app. Most authors of new software make sure to follow the standard OS text editing conventions, and windows, linux & macos are all fairly similar. When you use emacs or vim, which import their 1970s / early 1980s OS conventions with their keyboard shortcuts, you realize you can be dropped into a very foreign 'defaults' context, and they can conflict.
- mattl 9y agoI must be like your parents. My brain feels hard wired to Emacs.
- criddell 9y agoJust out of curiosity, are you okay with that?
- def0wt 9y agoIt's not just brain plasticity. I have literally tons of Vim customization code that would need to be migrated. It's doable, but definitely not "a few days" effort. Any disruption like this this will impact full-on on my ability to program fast. Even a 10% drop in productivity over an extended migration and learning period can translate into the thousands of $$$.
- Overv 9y agoIt's not like Sublime Text will suddenly stop working when the developers no longer release any updates.
- Jach 9y agoProbably not suddenly (unless there's DRM) but over time as other things change, sure. For instance there are plenty of Windows programs from the past, shareware or paid, that simply do not work on Windows 7 (let alone 10). Since they're proprietary nothing can be done. You might be able to emulate or use a VM and get it to run but not as a first class citizen.
- mattl 9y agoI suspect you're correct for Windows. For GNU/Linux and for Mac OS X, I wouldn't expect them to work after 2-3 years.
- daemin 9y agoIt's easier to switch to another text editor than it is a search engine.
- s73ver_ 9y agoGiven the plethora of alternatives, I feel that danger is largely overblown.