Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

OpenAI reaches agreement to buy Windsurf for $3B

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 604 posts

Re: OpenAI reaches agreement to buy Windsurf for $3B

#71

Post by beardedwizard »

arresin wrote: post #60
Androider wrote: post #28

Windsurf and Cursor feel like temporary stopgaps, products of a narrow window in time before the landscape shifts again. Microsoft has clearly taken notice. They're already starting to lock down the upstream VSCode codebase, as seen with recent changes to the C/C++ extension [0]. It's not hard to imagine that future features like TypeScript 7.0 might be limited or even withheld from forks entirely. At the same time,…

Copilot owns the platform, had an amazing head start and yet still is the worst option available. I don’t mean to be harsh but this was a titanic fumble.

GitHub has been failing upward for more than 5 years. They could have totally dominated software development and security - failed. Could have been the undisputed champion of code hosting - failed. Should have dominated development co-pilots - failed.

I actually find it a little reassuring that they can't seem to get out of their own way.

Re: OpenAI reaches agreement to buy Windsurf for $3B

#72

Post by kasey_junk »

robinhood wrote: post #46
Androider wrote: post #28

Windsurf and Cursor feel like temporary stopgaps, products of a narrow window in time before the landscape shifts again. Microsoft has clearly taken notice. They're already starting to lock down the upstream VSCode codebase, as seen with recent changes to the C/C++ extension [0]. It's not hard to imagine that future features like TypeScript 7.0 might be limited or even withheld from forks entirely. At the same time,…

"riddled with bugs". "incredibly poorly implemented". Man, what are you talking about? Your comment seems based on nothing but what you read online. Have you used Cursor on a daily basis? I have. Every day for six months now. I haven't encountered a single bug that prevent me to work. Moreover, while Microsoft tries to catch up lately, it's still very far behind, especially on the "tab autocompletion" front.

I have. It’s ~fine. The only feature difference it has currently to vs code that makes a difference to me is allowing multiple files for rules.

Meanwhile GitHub web integration is approaching seamless in vs code. To the point I often forget I’m in a browser instead of the app, until an extension I use doesn’t work.

Re: OpenAI reaches agreement to buy Windsurf for $3B

#73

Post by dist-epoch »

bko wrote: post #29

Incredible timeline to a $3B exit > Windsurf began in 2021 as Exafunction, founded by MIT graduates Varun Mohan and Douglas Chen. The company initially focused on GPU optimization before pivoting to AI-assisted coding tools, launching Codeium, which later evolved into Windsurf. > Series B (January 2024): $65 million at a $500 million valuation. > Series C (September 2024): $150 million, led by General Catalyst, at a…

> I wonder how much of the value is really from the model

> The other stuff could be more or less a VS Code plugin

The other stuff would take a team 6 months to implement. This is where the valuation comes from. Time to market, they are there TODAY.

Re: OpenAI reaches agreement to buy Windsurf for $3B

#75

Post by ZeroTalent »

Szpadel wrote: post #57
Androider wrote: post #28

Windsurf and Cursor feel like temporary stopgaps, products of a narrow window in time before the landscape shifts again. Microsoft has clearly taken notice. They're already starting to lock down the upstream VSCode codebase, as seen with recent changes to the C/C++ extension [0]. It's not hard to imagine that future features like TypeScript 7.0 might be limited or even withheld from forks entirely. At the same time,…

For someone that never used windsurf, what features does it have that GitHub copilot does not? Reading their webpages I didn't spot any "killer feature" that would convince me to switch. I always felt that cursor and windsurf should be just extension to vscode instead of a fork. Was there some missing functionality is vscode that was missing? Is it still missing? There are some extensions that work in this way and al…

It's better at coding, but they are essentially paying for users.

I would also argue that the product could be built over two weekends with a small team. They offer some groundbreaking solutions, but since we know that they work and how, it's easy to replicate them. That also means they have significant talent there.

Hence, they are also buying the employees.

The code base itself is basically worth nothing, in my opinion.

Re: OpenAI reaches agreement to buy Windsurf for $3B

#76

Post by hobo_mark »

kasey_junk wrote: post #72
robinhood wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"riddled with bugs". "incredibly poorly implemented". Man, what are you talking about? Your comment seems based on nothing but what you read online. Have you used Cursor on a daily basis? I have. Every day for six months now. I haven't encountered a single bug that prevent me to work. Moreover, while Microsoft tries to catch up lately, it's still very far behind, especially on the "tab autocompletion" front.

I have. It’s ~fine. The only feature difference it has currently to vs code that makes a difference to me is allowing multiple files for rules. Meanwhile GitHub web integration is approaching seamless in vs code. To the point I often forget I’m in a browser instead of the app, until an extension I use doesn’t work.

Does not look like a bit moat, is that different from the reusable prompt files feature?

https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/copilot-customiza...

Re: OpenAI reaches agreement to buy Windsurf for $3B

#77

Post by kasey_junk »

hobo_mark wrote: post #76
kasey_junk wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have. It’s ~fine. The only feature difference it has currently to vs code that makes a difference to me is allowing multiple files for rules. Meanwhile GitHub web integration is approaching seamless in vs code. To the point I often forget I’m in a browser instead of the app, until an extension I use doesn’t work.

Does not look like a bit moat, is that different from the reusable prompt files feature? https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/copilot-customiza...

It’s literally allowing those to be in more than one file. It’s not a moat at all. It’s an oversight in the plugin.

Re: OpenAI reaches agreement to buy Windsurf for $3B

#78

Post by marricks »

Androider wrote: post #28

Windsurf and Cursor feel like temporary stopgaps, products of a narrow window in time before the landscape shifts again. Microsoft has clearly taken notice. They're already starting to lock down the upstream VSCode codebase, as seen with recent changes to the C/C++ extension [0]. It's not hard to imagine that future features like TypeScript 7.0 might be limited or even withheld from forks entirely. At the same time,…

Wow, folks almost had me convinced MS turned a new leaf 5 years ago.

Tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme: embrace, extend, extinguish.

Re: OpenAI reaches agreement to buy Windsurf for $3B

#79

Post by stevage »

beardedwizard wrote: post #71
arresin wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Copilot owns the platform, had an amazing head start and yet still is the worst option available. I don’t mean to be harsh but this was a titanic fumble.

GitHub has been failing upward for more than 5 years. They could have totally dominated software development and security - failed. Could have been the undisputed champion of code hosting - failed. Should have dominated development co-pilots - failed. I actually find it a little reassuring that they can't seem to get out of their own way.

They're not the champion of code hosting?
Post reply on HN