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> If someone came out with a free, cross-platform, attractive text editor that was a native executable and got critical mass going with a plugin ecosystem, then VS Code would fall out of fashion within a year.

Well yeah, there's the problem. This isn't an easy task, it has never been done before.

It's been done with Vim and Emacs, among others. Full desktop GUI versions, in addition to the original terminal-based form.

It just hasn't been done RECENTLY... with an editor that is visually attractive, and uses modern keyboard conventions rather than arcane keystroke DSL's that are inaccessible for the masses. But that's just a matter of project philosophy, not technical limitations with what's doable.

This is definitely the first time I've ever seen the adjective 'attractive' applied to either vim or emacs.

If by "applied to Vim and Emacs", you mean "included in a list of theoretical differences from Vim and Emacs", then sure.

> > > free, cross-platform, attractive text editor

> > Well yeah, there's the problem. This isn't an easy task, it has never been done before.

> It's been done with Vim and Emacs

My apologies if I misunderstood how you intended the pronouns to be applied.

>"At the end of the day, VS Code is a shitty Electron app. "

It provides huge practical value to me as a developer. I am not fond of JavaScript being used as front end but as long as it performs decent job for particular use case I do not care. I use development tools to develop products and make money. I do not fight holy tech wars.

>"Startup time on my machine is only a hair faster than Jetbrains IDE's launching a JVM, it's ridiculous."

I value my development time and my development computers are very decent (desktop for example is 16 core AMD with 128GB RAM). Launching VS code on my machines is nearly instant. CLion from JetBrains is much slower (10 sec from cold start to opening my C++ project in a usable state for example) but still very acceptable. I do not restart it every minute. More like once in few days when using it.

>"VS Code has the market share that it has because:"

I do not care why. I am a consumer here. It is for a people who want to beat VS Code to figure out why and do better than MS. Me - I have my own problems to worry about and I just use tools that work for me.

>"Most importantly of all (in my cynical opinion), they went "dark mode" by default at just the right time when this was becoming a trendy new feature among devs."

I do not give a flying fuck about what is trendy for a generic developer. What is important for me in VS code along with plugin ecosystem let's me develop, lint, debug my code locally and on remote servers. As long as proper ergonomics / usability guidelines are followed I do not really care whether the mode is dark or light.

>"If someone came out with a free, cross-platform, attractive text editor that was a native executable and got critical mass going with a plugin ecosystem, then VS Code would fall out of fashion within a year."

And if I had a million dollars I'd be rich. Coulda, shoulda, woulda. And VS code is way more than an editor.

>"No one wants to create desktop apps anymore".

I actually have native desktop product and it keeps bringing me some dosh for what is a very little maintenance.

For someone who starts by saying they don't fight tech holy wars, this sure does read like a tech holy war.

I am not insulting your personal identity by disparaging your choice in text editor. I am responding to a question of what could cause a future competitor to take the top spot away from VS Code.

My answer is that VS Code has inherent challenges from being built atop an embedded web browser, and that a similar implementation based on direct native executables may be the path through which it's successor will emerge. Carry on.

>"For someone who opens by saying that they don't fight tech holy wars, this sure does read like a tech holy war.

No. I need to take my eyes from work every once in a while and HN to me is one of the ways to do it. I just explained my opinion about a subject. If you believe that I really care about actually convincing anyone be my guest.

well there's emacs, although it probably wouldn't qualify as 'attractive'