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Microsoft subtracts C/C++ extension from VS Code forks

theregister.com

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Re: Microsoft subtracts C/C++ extension from VS Code forks

#161

Post by PeterStuer »

globnomulous wrote: post #119
mrj wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I started my career rewriting a product using Microsoft's DNA business server with Java and never looked back. I'm shocked this keeps happening, honestly. I guess I'm a "never again" sort but surprised there's not more companies refusing to deal with Microsoft. Due to experiences like that I refused to buy volume licenses from them, too. Sometime later I got an audit demand for which I had a reply ready. "lol, no."

Sorry if I'm being dense, but what is an "audit demand?" (Looked it up and couldn't find anything obviously relevant.)

I think he refers to Microsoft auditing a business' licence compliance. Have you aquired the correct amount of licenses for all the instances you are running and accessing. Microsoft licensing is so insanely complex that even if you ask 2 MS sales reps what licenses you need to cover a certain scenario, you will get a different answer each time. This is also why an audit almost 100% results in finding non-compliance.

https://www.npifinancial.com/smartspend-bulletins/the-anatom...

Re: Microsoft subtracts C/C++ extension from VS Code forks

#162

Post by jeroenhd »

yoyohello13 wrote: post #7

Look, if you willingly have any piece of your stack relying on Microsoft you have to be ready for the rug pull. They WILL fuck you, it's guaranteed.

It took them five years to actually take action on enforcing their ToS. It's not as much of a rug pull as it's the result of their competitors blatantly ignoring the license on proprietary code from a proprietary code giant.

Unless the developers of the IDEs hit by this never actually read the ToS, of course, which would only make them less reliable as an IDE provider.

Re: Microsoft subtracts C/C++ extension from VS Code forks

#163

Post by mschild »

pjmlp wrote: post #129
lysace wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Still using VSCode, but you kind of know that's it's going to go sour eventually. It is Microsoft. :/ I figure e.g. emacs will always be there when that happens. All I need is a Github Copilot clone and a good code search feature. Oh and automatic reloads of open but unchanged buffers when switching between git branches. Oh and the ssh remote extension.

Many of us are perfectly fine with commercial software, we have been into the other side and got tired of the religion.

I think a lot of people don't have a problem with commercial software, but rather with the disingenuous behavior that some companies display.

VSCode was/is often touted as open source and Microsoft are using it to present themselves as community loving until MS sees an opportunity to extract some money/hinder the competition.

In comparison, Jetbrains is transparent with their offerings and what you get. There is in my opinion a clear difference in how they operate and how they are perceived.

Re: Microsoft subtracts C/C++ extension from VS Code forks

#164

Post by hnlmorg »

kstrauser wrote: post #3

And this is why I'm using Zed today. I'm deadly serious. I was a huge proponent of VSCode at first but I've soured on it, and now I don't want my workflow to depend on it in any way. Awesome software, but I don't trust the upstream org further than I must.

I’ve just installed Zed based on your recommendation and I’m already impressed.

It’s fast, the interface is distraction free and it already has support for all the languages I use regularly. Even Terraform support, which is notoriously hard to get right, is better than the current “best” in VSCode.

Thanks for the recommendation

Re: Microsoft subtracts C/C++ extension from VS Code forks

#166

Post by int_19h »

ohgr wrote: post #31
yoyohello13 wrote: post #7

Look, if you willingly have any piece of your stack relying on Microsoft you have to be ready for the rug pull. They WILL fuck you, it's guaranteed.

Yep. Was a Microsoft dev from 1992 until 2017. Won’t touch them now because I spent my entire career rewriting rug pulls. It paid off a mortgage and fed me well but it was a bad outcome for my orgs and customers. If anyone remembers WCF/AppFabric/WWF and Silverlight, that was the last stack I rewrote someone out of the shit on.

Funnily enough, those ancient WPF, WinForms, and even MFC apps still compile and work fine. The rug pull only became the standard operating procedure at a certain point.

Re: Microsoft subtracts C/C++ extension from VS Code forks

#167

Post by LinAGKar »

axpvms wrote: post #152
bangaladore wrote: post #5

To be clear, I'm don't like the Microsoft has a proprietary Marketplace, but a company openly violating the terms of use for their own profit is a bit much in my opinion. > Cursor allegedly has been flouting Microsoft terms-of-service rules for some time now by setting up a reverse proxy to mask its network requests to the endpoints used by the Microsoft Visual Studio Marketplace. This allows Cursor users to install…

cursor also hijacks the 'code' alias to start vscode from the cli, which I use a lot. It's extremely annoying to have cursor start instead and unnncessarily difficult to get rid of. I removed cursor because of this.

"code" is way too generic for a single program to claim exclusive rights to it.

Re: Microsoft subtracts C/C++ extension from VS Code forks

#168

Post by jeroenhd »

concerndc1tizen wrote: post #23

Do you guys ever feel tired of 'sounding the alarm'? I feel like I've been doing that for years on a wide range of topics, but every time it's like you're talking to cult members. How do you break through to people? People say things like "you're overthinking it", "that's never going to happen", "I don't care because I like using VSCode and not alternatives". Is it individualism? That they only consider their own nar…

What's the problem for people who just use VSCode, exactly? The software still does what people want for free, which is what 99% of VS Code users use the software for anyway. People who care about open source-ness have their own extensions to replace their proprietary C++ tooling, or they can use an open source alternative like Eclipse.

I remember when basic features that come for free in VS Code cost thousands of dollars per developer, back when "update" meant "buy the new version (again)". I swear, people forgot how good they have it.

The change that made the Microsoft addon incompatible with VS Code forks happened four years ago.

Re: Microsoft subtracts C/C++ extension from VS Code forks

#169

Post by int_19h »

kstrauser wrote: post #3

And this is why I'm using Zed today. I'm deadly serious. I was a huge proponent of VSCode at first but I've soured on it, and now I don't want my workflow to depend on it in any way. Awesome software, but I don't trust the upstream org further than I must.

I actually worked on VSCode (Python support specifically) at Microsoft in the past, and seeing this kind of thing frustrates me to no end.

The worst part is all the VSCode is still promoted to developers as open source, even though official extensions increasingly aren't, with bits and pieces gradually replaced with closed code. It's not that closed source is necessarily bad, but when F/OSS popularity is milked for marketing purposes while stuff like this happens, it just feels very wrong. If you want to be closed source for reasons, fine, but be honest and upfront about it.

Re: Microsoft subtracts C/C++ extension from VS Code forks

#170

Post by axpvms »

doix wrote: post #159
axpvms wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

cursor also hijacks the 'code' alias to start vscode from the cli, which I use a lot. It's extremely annoying to have cursor start instead and unnncessarily difficult to get rid of. I removed cursor because of this.

I'm pretty sure that was an option when installing, I remember unchecking it and 'code' still launches vscode for me. Curious how it's difficult to remove, I'd expect something like rm `which code` to do it. Unless they add the alias to your shell or something?

maybe they changed some things last I used it, which was maybe six months ago. I've tried cursor twice and had the same issue each time. I saw the dialogue you were talking about and specifically selected to not override the code extension and it happened again anyway. Maybe there was something left over from the previous install, I don't know.

I was using windows and wsl, and they were adding scripts to my profile directory (code.cmd) which then took precedence over vscode, from what I remember. Tracking that down required googling to discover other people who were having the same issue. If this is what I have to do when I first start using a product, it just leaves a bad impression. Additionally it seems that it will hijack the 'code' alias in WSL if you select this option or not, which is where I primarily use it. And then when cursor updates, it seems it will again attempt to overwrite this alias.

I'm not the only one who encounters this issue https://github.com/getcursor/cursor/issues/2654 https://github.com/getcursor/cursor/issues/2566 https://forum.cursor.com/t/do-not-hijack-code-shortcut/60671 https://namvu.net/2025/01/cursor-stole-your-code-command-her...

Maybe it works great for other people and they never encounter this issue. Maybe it seems like a petty thing. For me it seems it's implemented to attempt to 'force convert' some vscode users to use cursor all the time, and maybe that works and it's a success from a business perspective. But I won't use it again.

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