3 ms·

Microsoft is big, internally incoherent (even inimical, according to some accounts), and people responsible for VSCode and WSL are likely totally unrelated to p

by nine_k 5mo ago

Microsoft is big, internally incoherent (even inimical, according to some accounts), and people responsible for VSCode and WSL are likely totally unrelated to people determining when and how to crack MS's crown jewel, the Office suite, in an attempt to squeeze out a few dollars more.

hotstickyballs 5mo ago
That's why anything that goes against the long-established corporate culture aren't likely to stay around for long.
- emodendroket 5mo ago
  Visual Studio Code has been around over a decade and there is zero indication it's going anywhere.
  - adithyassekhar 5mo ago
    Apart from academics, who are forced to stay away from ai, i feel vs code will regress to a code reader as the models improve.
shimman 5mo ago
Why are we acting like VS Code is nothing but a way to stop independent developers from selling their tools? Things like VS Code literally destroy the cottage industry and likely has held back our industry by several decades. MSFT needs to be at least six separate companies: Windows, Office, GitHub, Visual Studio, Xbox, and Azure. That would kneecap the company and destroy its parasitic blight on our industry for several decades and if luck we with us indefinitely.
- gucci-on-fleek 5mo ago
  > Things like VS Code literally destroy the cottage industry and likely has held back our industry by several decades. VS Code was released in 2015, so even if its initial release somehow completely stopped the entire software industry, it would still not have held the industry back by several decades. > MSFT needs to be at least six separate companies: Windows, Office, GitHub, Visual Studio, Xbox, and Azure. That would kneecap the company I'm pretty sure that all of those (aside from Xbox) are profitable on their own, so I don't think that them becoming independent would kneecap them at all.
  - watermelon0 5mo ago
    Is GitHub really profitable, considering how much Actions credits are given away to open source projects as well as free users? Same goes for Copilot.
    - gucci-on-fleek 5mo ago
      > Is GitHub really profitable Well I had assumed that GitHub was profitable, since it used to be independent, and it feels like it should be profitable right now. But I tried Googling "is GitHub profitable" just now, and the first few results seem to suggest that either it's still losing money or that nobody knows. So I was likely incorrect about that point, sorry. > considering how much Actions credits are given away to open source projects as well as free users? GitLab does the same thing, and they are definitely profitable [0], so that on its own isn't necessarily a barrier. [0]: https://ir.gitlab.com/news/news-details/2026/GitLab-Reports-Fourth-Quarter-and-Full-Year-Fiscal-Year-2026-Financial-Results-Board-of-Directors-Authorizes-400-million-for-Share-Repurchase-Program/default.aspx https://ir.gitlab.com/news/news-details/2026/GitLab-Reports-...
  - jayceekay 5mo ago
    They said cottage industry, not software industry. Edit: s/he/they/woops sorry
    - emodendroket 5mo ago
      OK but is that even true? Lots of people buy IntelliJ licenses (or if they've stopped I'm guessing it has more to do with Claude Code than VS Code).
      - pmontra 5mo ago
        By the way, Claude Code works well from inside emacs.
  - ornornor 5mo ago
    > VS Code was released in 2015, so even if its initial release somehow completely stopped the entire software industry, it would still not have held the industry back by several decades. Why not? That’s 11 years, times (say) 5 potential independent editors or IDE that didn’t exist because of VSCode in that time is over 50 years worth of software innovation.
- nine_k 5mo ago
  Have releases of other open-source tools destroyed cottage industries? Certainly they have, to an extent. Would it be better if most tools you use were proprietary, built by cottage industries? I doubt it. Especially if we notice that cottage industries tend to consolidate, and the few remaining players are rarely very community-oriented.
  - shimman 5mo ago
    No, what would be better is creating a VAT against big tech and VC investments so that the public can decide what technology is worth developing. If the VAT amounted to $10,000,000,000 of tax revenue annually (something that is quite easy to do against an industry that has several trillion dollar corporations) that is enough to 100,000 open source projects with $100,000 grants. This would literally unleash to much economic value that would be truly controlled by the public. That is the future I want to build towards, anything that gives people more power against corporations and in the software world that means funding open source. I can't think of a single open source dev that wouldn't mind a $100,000 grant for the likely millions they provide in economic value.
- fithisux 5mo ago
  I started migrating away for VSCode, piece by piece. But if you need it: Theia/Positron/VSCodium For Python/Julia? Many alternatives. For C family? Similar Java/Go? Similar.
  - WesolyKubeczek 5mo ago
    I keep VSCode because their seamless SSH integration (remote files editing) is so damn good.
    - fithisux 5mo ago
      Filezilla Portable for me. I never use SSH through VSCode. Most of the people I work with, do. VSCode is a binary product and therefore it is dangerous.
      - WesolyKubeczek 5mo ago
        I don't want to have high friction from having to copy files to my host then back. I also don't want to experience latency from editing remotely. Thus, this.
    - nine_k 5mo ago
      Emacs had it first ;-D (And still does.)

by nine_k 5mo ago

hotstickyballs 5mo ago

That's why anything that goes against the long-established corporate culture aren't likely to stay around for long.

emodendroket 5mo ago
Visual Studio Code has been around over a decade and there is zero indication it's going anywhere.
- adithyassekhar 5mo ago
  Apart from academics, who are forced to stay away from ai, i feel vs code will regress to a code reader as the models improve.

shimman 5mo ago

Why are we acting like VS Code is nothing but a way to stop independent developers from selling their tools? Things like VS Code literally destroy the cottage industry and likely has held back our industry by several decades. MSFT needs to be at least six separate companies: Windows, Office, GitHub, Visual Studio, Xbox, and Azure. That would kneecap the company and destroy its parasitic blight on our industry for several decades and if luck we with us indefinitely.

gucci-on-fleek 5mo ago
> Things like VS Code literally destroy the cottage industry and likely has held back our industry by several decades. VS Code was released in 2015, so even if its initial release somehow completely stopped the entire software industry, it would still not have held the industry back by several decades. > MSFT needs to be at least six separate companies: Windows, Office, GitHub, Visual Studio, Xbox, and Azure. That would kneecap the company I'm pretty sure that all of those (aside from Xbox) are profitable on their own, so I don't think that them becoming independent would kneecap them at all.
- watermelon0 5mo ago
  Is GitHub really profitable, considering how much Actions credits are given away to open source projects as well as free users? Same goes for Copilot.
  - gucci-on-fleek 5mo ago
    > Is GitHub really profitable Well I had assumed that GitHub was profitable, since it used to be independent, and it feels like it should be profitable right now. But I tried Googling "is GitHub profitable" just now, and the first few results seem to suggest that either it's still losing money or that nobody knows. So I was likely incorrect about that point, sorry. > considering how much Actions credits are given away to open source projects as well as free users? GitLab does the same thing, and they are definitely profitable [0], so that on its own isn't necessarily a barrier. [0]: https://ir.gitlab.com/news/news-details/2026/GitLab-Reports-Fourth-Quarter-and-Full-Year-Fiscal-Year-2026-Financial-Results-Board-of-Directors-Authorizes-400-million-for-Share-Repurchase-Program/default.aspx https://ir.gitlab.com/news/news-details/2026/GitLab-Reports-...
- jayceekay 5mo ago
  They said cottage industry, not software industry. Edit: s/he/they/woops sorry
  - emodendroket 5mo ago
    OK but is that even true? Lots of people buy IntelliJ licenses (or if they've stopped I'm guessing it has more to do with Claude Code than VS Code).
    - pmontra 5mo ago
      By the way, Claude Code works well from inside emacs.
- ornornor 5mo ago
  > VS Code was released in 2015, so even if its initial release somehow completely stopped the entire software industry, it would still not have held the industry back by several decades. Why not? That’s 11 years, times (say) 5 potential independent editors or IDE that didn’t exist because of VSCode in that time is over 50 years worth of software innovation.
nine_k 5mo ago
Have releases of other open-source tools destroyed cottage industries? Certainly they have, to an extent. Would it be better if most tools you use were proprietary, built by cottage industries? I doubt it. Especially if we notice that cottage industries tend to consolidate, and the few remaining players are rarely very community-oriented.
- shimman 5mo ago
  No, what would be better is creating a VAT against big tech and VC investments so that the public can decide what technology is worth developing. If the VAT amounted to $10,000,000,000 of tax revenue annually (something that is quite easy to do against an industry that has several trillion dollar corporations) that is enough to 100,000 open source projects with $100,000 grants. This would literally unleash to much economic value that would be truly controlled by the public. That is the future I want to build towards, anything that gives people more power against corporations and in the software world that means funding open source. I can't think of a single open source dev that wouldn't mind a $100,000 grant for the likely millions they provide in economic value.
fithisux 5mo ago
I started migrating away for VSCode, piece by piece. But if you need it: Theia/Positron/VSCodium For Python/Julia? Many alternatives. For C family? Similar Java/Go? Similar.
- WesolyKubeczek 5mo ago
  I keep VSCode because their seamless SSH integration (remote files editing) is so damn good.
  - fithisux 5mo ago
    Filezilla Portable for me. I never use SSH through VSCode. Most of the people I work with, do. VSCode is a binary product and therefore it is dangerous.
    - WesolyKubeczek 5mo ago
      I don't want to have high friction from having to copy files to my host then back. I also don't want to experience latency from editing remotely. Thus, this.
  - nine_k 5mo ago
    Emacs had it first ;-D (And still does.)