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I'm a heavy user of VS Code and recently RubyMine (JetBrains does a wonderful job on their IDEs), but I'm really excited about this. I wonder mainly about two

I'm a heavy user of VS Code and recently RubyMine (JetBrains does a wonderful job on their IDEs), but I'm really excited about this. I wonder mainly about two things. One, how can Panic compete with a free tool like VS Code? Its extensions are stellar, free, and well maintained. The core product is extremely well maintained and constantly improving. Two, if they're competing with products like WebStorm or SublimeText, again... How? I don't doubt that they can do it and that they have a solid plan, and that's exciting. Panic delivers on polish and that alone is very appealing. RubyMine for example is really great in terms of function, but it feels clunky as hell at times. It feels like the beastly Java app that it is. I respect the work JetBrains does on their platform more than enough to pay for it, but there's a ton of room for polish! I'm eagerly waiting to give the beta a test run anyway. The prospect of a new tool to play with is always exciting, and I've never used a tool from Panic that I didn't enjoy.

prepend 7y ago
I think the cost of development can be really low. So just making a few hundred grand a year can pay for a dev or two. The notepad++ guy has run his freeware solo for how many years?
pvg 7y ago
Panic's tools are native and have real macOS UIs. This is a very well-trodden path for small companies to make money selling tools in fields that are typically not huge moneymakers because of free competition.
- craiga 7y ago
  This is why I'm excited about Nova. I'm still using TextMate despite Sublime/VS Code/whatever having way more features just because a non-native UI makes me feel icky.
randallsquared 7y ago
Yeah, it really needs to have some differentiator that VS Code and the like would struggle to duplicate. I have a suggestion (however unrealistic): speed. VS Code is, you know, usually fast enough that I don't notice any more. I bet, though, that if there was a similarly-featured editor that was perceptually instantaneous, I'd notice.
- drcongo 7y ago
  That's Sublime Text. I've tried VS Code a few times but it feels like working underwater it's so slow.
Hamuko 7y ago
I'd say Sublime Text can compete with VS Code just fine even though it's not free.

prepend 7y ago

I think the cost of development can be really low. So just making a few hundred grand a year can pay for a dev or two. The notepad++ guy has run his freeware solo for how many years?

pvg 7y ago

Panic's tools are native and have real macOS UIs. This is a very well-trodden path for small companies to make money selling tools in fields that are typically not huge moneymakers because of free competition.

craiga 7y ago
This is why I'm excited about Nova. I'm still using TextMate despite Sublime/VS Code/whatever having way more features just because a non-native UI makes me feel icky.

randallsquared 7y ago

Yeah, it really needs to have some differentiator that VS Code and the like would struggle to duplicate. I have a suggestion (however unrealistic): speed. VS Code is, you know, usually fast enough that I don't notice any more. I bet, though, that if there was a similarly-featured editor that was perceptually instantaneous, I'd notice.

drcongo 7y ago
That's Sublime Text. I've tried VS Code a few times but it feels like working underwater it's so slow.

Hamuko 7y ago

I'd say Sublime Text can compete with VS Code just fine even though it's not free.