> I was a skeptic for years, as it was based on Atom/Electron, which I found really sluggish, and it was Microsoft.
This pretty much still sums it up for me.
This pretty much still sums it up for me.
As for "Microsoft". It's funny, I use to be a Windows/Microsoft fan in the 90s/2000s because that was the only way I was going to play computer games. Then they lost my trust during the Ballmer era, at the same time I started programming and appreciated linux/apple more.
But VS Code has singlehandedly reignited my love of Microsoft. Despite the name "Visual Studio Code", it does not at all try to shove Microsoft languages like Visual Basic or C# down your throat. Support for common open source languages like python and javascript are amazing.
It's as surprising to me as it is to you that I'm defending Microsoft in an online thread right now.
But they are still the same company that threatened Linux with patents and FUD campaigns, that collects royalties from Android and that has turned Windows into ad-ridden spyware.
No. It is their actions which have shown that they are a different entity now, and are much more friendly towards the open source community, which has left a good impression. They are still a large entity, they still perform evil or brain-dead actions. None of that is marketing, it is simply strategic shifts that happen in large companies. It isn't there ms of old that people like to keep dredging up, and it is unhelpful that a vociferous anti ms crowd on HN considers this "defending", all this does is create polarisation. It is observing. Many of us have observed their changes. That is all.
A marketing campaign example of the type you refer to would be apple's "privacy" campaigns which convince people that privacy means giving up their privacy to their ecosystem. They are actively promoted and defended on HN. No mention of past misdeeds are entertained.
Microsoft has always built excellent developer tools. Even before VS Code, Visual Studio for Windows has been one of the best, if not the best, IDE. And it wasn't open source, but nowadays, it's tough to compete in a world in which even IntelliJ IDEA has a FOSS "community edition".
The open-sourcing of .NET happened because they've lost the mobile, and .NET was dying due to Java's and JavaScript's dominance. But even today, the development of .NET Core has plenty of shenanigans behind closed doors; the difference in how Oracle (of all companies) treats the Java community as a partner in developing new stuff is appalling (see Project Loom).
So we've got VS Code, .NET Core, some inevitable Linux contributions due to Azure, and the acquisition of GitHub, which is now used for open-source laundering via Copilot, copyright licences be damned. What else?
The only thing that changed for Microsoft is their shift to Azure. They are still the same boring old corporation that wants to crush their competition by any means necessary, monopoly power included.
That is fundamentally impossible, as Sublime Text is cross platform C++ and VS Code is web based.
The mere presence of a web layer makes it magnitudes slower, even if it's imperceptibly fast enough for you.
Sublime Text is as snappy as ever. I paid for it, too.
I really don’t understand the love for VSC. I give it a good go from time to time, because I figure I must be missing something. But I end up back with ST.
Maybe we could find products useful or not without a seesaw parasocial relationship with the vendor?
I just want the best tool for the job. Sometimes the best tools come from the worst companies, as I'm reminded of every month when Adobe take money from me.