I’m switching from VS Code to VS Codium

&gt; I was increasingly getting upset about their extension marketplace, where there is an increased number of extensions starting to sell pro versions of the extensions we used for free.<p>This is actually great news. Some extensions, especially language ones, are very poor, and paying for them (if someone makes a commercial version) is the only way to guarantee a good development experience. Ruby is an example, and switching to IntelliJ is not smooth for people used to VSC.

What I find truly bizarre is how many software engineers, who are aware of how much they earn and how long it really takes to make software, are so resistant to paying <i>anything</i> for tools that make their job easier and faster. It blows my mind.<p>Take the Jetbrains IDEs. I don&#x27;t mean to offend any VSC fans out there but the Jetbrains IDEs are simply better and more mature in every single way. For individual use, most of them are &lt;$100&#x2F;year.<p>In years past I saw this same struggle with IntelliJ vs Eclipse or even vim&#x2F;emacs. The amount of time I saw people spend on tuning, fixing, tinkering, debugging and otherwise modifying their .vim or .emacs files or their various incompatible Eclipse plugins (eg famously there were 2 big big plugins for Eclipse at one point and neither of them completely worked). At least with vim&#x2F;emacs it works over an SSH connection but Eclipse?<p>Why are so many resistant so other people earning a living particularly when the payoff (ie time-saved) is so easily quantifiable? And why do people who generally earn so much value their time so little?

I went backwards, from VS Codium to VS Code, because VS Codium does not support all extensions, like PyLance or Remote - SSH&#x2F;containers.<p>I like freedom, but I like getting things done more.

&gt; I was increasingly getting upset about their extension marketplace, where there is an increased number of extensions starting to sell pro versions of the extensions we used for free.<p>I&#x27;m not familiar with any particularly egregious examples, but I don&#x27;t find &quot;developer wants to sell software&quot; all that outrageous.

I started using vim 13 years ago. Editors come. Editors go. Vim remains.

I&#x27;m already paying for sublime text and a few other developer tools and I wouldn&#x27;t mind paying for a tool that helps me pay my bills.<p>Also I like that some of these products have a free version that makes it accessible to people coming from a poor economic background. Everyone deserves an equal opportunity in my opinion.<p>Now my problem about big tech corps is that they are huge bullies. I want my freedom back. Freedom of not being locked in an ecosystem. Freedom to choose my tools. Freedom of not being tracked. Freedom of everyone to be in the market without being copied, acquired or overshadowed by huge companies that buy&#x2F;clone&#x2F;replace any product or tool with their &quot;free of charge&quot; poison. Freedom to stay away of &quot;growth and engagement&quot; bs products.<p>Think of the following. How viable is to live without GMAIL nowdays? Do we want vscode to become the GMAIL of code?

The last time I tried Codium, not being able to use Remote Development was a showstopper. Has the situation improved since then?

Luckily, contrary to what the Microsoft hoard will tell you, there are countless respectful alternatives that were around before and will be around long after Microsoft turns it into some kind of pay to win thing with achievements.

If you&#x27;re really that concerned about using propriety software why not help build the emacs or vim ecosystem instead?

I can partially understand the desire to switch if there are (free) plugins available on VS Codium that is not on VS Code. However leaving VS Code because of not trusting Microsoft&#x27;s off switch for telemetry for the IDE and the plugins they provide is an unintentionally uninformed decision IMO.<p>Of all actors, one should probably trust the privacy protections and off switch of a BigCo, like Microsoft, since they tend to know what would get them in trouble. On the other hand, you may not be able to rely on the open source plugin developers to do things right and protect your privacy, however, it usually can be a problem that can be fixed [1]. Do you read the source code of all of your plugins? Open source developers may have good intentions, but they may not be following telemetry guidelines or best practices.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=31371979" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=31371979</a>

I originally read it as a different editor entirely than VS Code.<p>The slight startup delay for VS Code vs. for example Notepad++ is quite annoying. I wish there was software as cool as VS Code, but with ultra low startup time.

Putting a lot of faith in this: “These extensions are uploaded by the official developers or by the community.”

Alas without ssh remote that’s a complete non starter for me

The reasons to switch don&#x27;t make sense. Microsoft provides builds for virtually every major platform and has extensive remote development options. Why is there a requirement to be building it from source?<p>What is collected via telemetry is published, can be inspected with tools Microsoft provides or third party tools, and can be disabled.<p>Why are some extensions providing paid versions while keeping the free versions around a bad thing?

Vim users out here like:<p>“Telemetry? What telemetry?” ;)

You can use the VSCode extension gallery with VSCodium at your own risk[0].<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;VSCodium&#x2F;vscodium&#x2F;blob&#x2F;master&#x2F;DOCS.md#how-to-use-the-vs-code-marketplace" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;VSCodium&#x2F;vscodium&#x2F;blob&#x2F;master&#x2F;DOCS.md#how...</a>.

&gt; There is nothing wrong with an organization following an open-core princip[le].<p>In itself, maybe, but MS is crippling the ability to use the open core. Plus, there _is_ something wrong with using the state to prevent people from copying information amongst themselves.<p>&gt; Microsoft still has to pay for the developers who contribute to VS Code and other bills associated with VS Code and running the extension store.<p>If that&#x27;s the justification, then it&#x27;s BS. Microsoft has enough money to pay for this stuff many time over. Plus, the indirect financial benefit of people working in an MS app or environment is high enough.

Their main argument is “no telemetry” (or sometimes “no cemetery tracking”…), but VS Code has a setting to disable telemetry [0], and I would trust that it’s really disabled if you set it so (why would they lie about something quite trivial to check with Wireshark or such?)<p>&gt; I’m sure there is a small performance gain because you don’t have telemetry running in the background sending data to Microsoft.<p>Have you profiled it? Have you compared VSCodium and VSCode with telemetry off?<p>[0]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;code.visualstudio.com&#x2F;docs&#x2F;getstarted&#x2F;telemetry" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;code.visualstudio.com&#x2F;docs&#x2F;getstarted&#x2F;telemetry</a>

&gt; f [sic] you want to get the full open-source MIT-licensed VS Code with no cemetery [sic] tracking<p>I prevent telemetry tracking by blocking all network access to VSC using Little Snitch. Get it set up initially with plugins then cut it off. I don’t use VSC in ways that require network access thereafter.

&gt; I don&#x27;t mean to offend any VSC fans out there but the Jetbrains IDEs are simply better and more mature in every single way.<p>I must admit that I used PyCharm for a few years but ended up liking VSC more, and now that&#x27;s my IDE. Just seems lighter and more pleasant.

I tried VS Codium early this year and went back to VS Code as clangd extension didn&#x27;t work. Microsoft&#x27;s C++ extension works great. I&#x27;ll be interested to know if anyone has got clangd setup working on Windows.

lot&#x27;s of MS extensions are missing but you often find OSS alternatives. Most important for me is liveshare. I use codetogether.com, it&#x27;s not remarkable (I got connection drop a couple of times) but it does the job with the added bonus that it works with IntelliJ too

&gt; with no cemetery tracking<p>FYI, if the author is here, I think you may have meant “telemetry” instead of “cemetery”.

(Proprietary is spelled propriety in a few places.)<p>I’m surprised VS Codium is so well packaged..

Did it two weeks ago.