Microsoft's Visual Studio Code, commonly just called VS Code, is a great piece of software. This is in no small part due to all extensions on the e...
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lol this kinda touches a nerve for me - all that open-source talk but then gatekeeping features? yeah, bogus. good writeup
Why boycott it? Because it's a trap.
It's like the old "embrace, extend, extinguish" practice. People say it's ok to use because it's open source, then get locked in to using it because they've come to depend on a lot of community-built features, then it becomes a captive audience for Microsoft to exploit.
AI editors are mostly VSCode forks with some theme and extensions baked in. Regardless, the reasons people are switching to AI editors have nothing to do with this conversation.
Likewise mentioning Sublime, etc. That's not free software either.
I use VSCode in my day job. That doesn't have any bearing on its purpose or feature set.
I think it is shady indeed, but not shadier than common commercial practices. Microsoft was kind enough to pay for the development for the main application, which then gave away to the public.
Now you are angry because not EVERYTHING Microsoft does around this one free piece of software is free to use anywhere. It seems that you developed a sense of ownership over EVERYTHING even though you were only given a small piece. I think you are being greedy.
Just because you were given one piece for free, doesn't mean you are entitled to the whole thing for free as well.
Do you want or need the C++ extension? Well, Microsoft won't give it to you to use in another fork. They made it. Why do you think you're entitled to reclamation? Don't like it? Make one yourself and then give it for free to all forks. Too hard? Probably. Your choice.
Why I should boycott VSCode? I think the answer is, I shouldn't ... ;-)
I swear by VSCode, but I use a minimum number of extensions - "less is more" - so the value for me lies at least as much, if not more, in the 'core product' than in the extensions ...
Maybe I'm not "versed" enough in the theory of Open Source, but for me this doesn't feel like a reason to boycott a product which, for me, strikes the right balance between "lightweight" and "accessible" ...
By the way I use VIM too on a regular (daily) basis - I just don't see it as an "IDE".
Have used the Jetbrains products as well in the past, but they feel too sluggish and resource hungry, have a steeper learning curve, and have tons of features which I don't need, and which (for me) don't justify the purchase ...
Have toyed with Atom in the past, but VSCode just blows it out of the water, it's no competition ...
And apart from VIM and VSCode I love the command line too ... VSCode just fits perfectly in my development 'flow' - spending time on "migrating" to something else is guaranteed to achieve just one thing: wasting time and killing my productivity, while trying to achieve an elusive goal.
So, never mind the arcana of OSS licenses, for me VSCode has been a godsend - thank you for this wonderful product Microsoft, and I'm not saying that often (regarding Microsoft, that is) !
I see your point, but I disagree it is an actual issue. Not for 99 % of devs.
Visual Studio Code as a product was never billed as open source - it's a bundled that contains proprietary mechanisms, telemetry, and so forth; the source code from which it's built is MIT licensed. In addition, the marketplace has a Terms of Use you must agree to, which is where the restrictions many are grumping about come from. Open Source advocates of course pointed this out in the beginning, but convenience ended up trumping all for most folks; those who even understood the details generally thought the worriers were just being pedantic.
I'd guess Microsoft (who knew very well what they were doing, they are extremely experienced at software licensing and strategies) would not have started to enforce the restrictions if the rise of LLMs didn't spawn a market for people taking the source code to VS and building their own for-profit products, bypassing a revenue stream that Microsoft wants. Open Source folk have criticized a number of companies who took their products closed-source when they found others profiting off their efforts more than they did (see MongoDB, mentioned in the article); Microsoft hasn't done that, they were up front about the terms, even if we may think of the behavior as not being in the spirit of the open source movement.
Choosing not to use VS Code because it doesn't fit the terms of how you want to use software isn't what I'd call a boycott, just making an editor choice, but I suspect the convenience of the extension marketplace will keep it just as popular as it is now.
I'm not convinced. It's completely reasonable to open source the main application and restrict your own add-ons to your only fork. It is also reasonable to operate an extension store that only works with your own fork. It is also reasonable to NOT publish your own add-ons to other extension stores that support other forks. Just because I open my guest room to you doesn't mean I have to share my owner suite's bedroom with you too.
Thanks for the insight! I tried Theia IDE recently, and it feels like VS Code, most extensions are compatible (I tried only a few ones), and it seemd to be built to be truly open-source. Worth a look in my opinion : theia-ide.org/
I am not sure Microsoft extensions matter that much. There is the clangd backend C++ extensions, for example, and I would argue in some ways it is superior to the Microsoft C++ IntelliSense one, especially if you are dealing with code that's not going to ever be built for a Microsoft platform. In this sense, it is Microsoft cutting its nose to spite its face by reducing the reach of their C++ practices.
The most common use of VSC is probably golang, and the golang plugin is made by Google, so it's available for all forks, too. I didn't even know there was a Microsoft python extension, and there are many others of these.
I suspect the main one people may care about is not C++, but rather C#, for which there is only one. C# can be used and developed on non-Microsoft platforms, but the runtime overhead alone often makes it a difficult choice at best, or, for containers, impractical. This tends to mean C# usually only gets developed on Windows, and, actually, old classic Visual Studio provides a much more mature. complete, and practical environment than VSC does for C# anyway. There may also be selective pressure to avoid properly improving the VSC C# plugin for fear of cannibalizing the VS base.
Codium is the Open Source of VSCode without the Micro$oft "Telemetry"...
I'm using all my vscode extensions in Windsurf 🤷 true you can't use the vscode marketplace, but the extensions you already have locally, you can use in any other vscode clone.
the moment my dude mentioned vim i stopped reading lol