Yes, if you're not using emacs you don't get much from the format itself. Which is why everyone talks about org-mode, not the file format. That said, available

Yes, if you're not using emacs you don't get much from the format itself. Which is why everyone talks about org-mode, not the file format. That said, available libraries matter when you're choosing a programming language, and interop and available integrations matter when you're choosing, say, a bug tracker; why wouldn't the available editing tools matter when you're choosing a calendar+agenda+literate-programming environment+note-taker+organizer? I'd almost say that a "mode" for editing org-mode files almost doesn't deserve to be called "org-mode for X" if it doesn't do all the fancy stuff. It'd be like calling telnet a gmail client because you can theoretically negotiate an SSL handshake by hand - yes, but that's not the point. I think that people came into this thread hoping for a vscode extension that does everything that emacs org-mode does, but I don't think that that's something that'll happen, unfortunately, not unless vscode's architectural philosophy is very different from what I expect.