OpenAI reaches agreement to buy Windsurf for $3B • Hacker News Board

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

#231

Post by AlwaysRock » Tue, May 06, 2025, 7:43 PM UTC

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,…

I was a little late to jump on the cursor bandwagon but finally downloaded it because i liked the LLM chat interface in the sidebar. By the time my free trial ran out, VSCode had added a LLM chat interface in the sidebar. Yes Cursor had a bit better auto complete and maybe a few other things but it wasnt good enough that it was worth paying for.

But I'm glad OpenAI is getting into the tooling space in this way. I cant wait to use all the cool features they build after VSCode rips them off.

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

#232

Post by AlwaysRock » Tue, May 06, 2025, 7:45 PM UTC

lnenad wrote: post #223

crsv wrote: post #219

Man why did these guys do that OpenAI couldn’t replicate for less than 3Bn on reasonable timeline? This seems insane.

They've got users (which I don't doubt that OpenAI's fork of VSC would have as well but I assume that's their thought process)

Yup. Even a small market share is market share. Plus they are paying to acquire a team of folks who are already in this space and who will, until golden handcuffs come off, keep working in this space. Still an insane number though.

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

#233

Post by startupsfail » Tue, May 06, 2025, 7:45 PM UTC

slt2021 wrote: post #180

timabdulla wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, the fact that OpenAI, at the bleeding edge of it all, has decided to buy an IDE is a rather strong hint that the future of agents handling entire engineering tickets might be further out than many believe. If autonomous agents were just around the corner, then why wouldn't OpenAI bet on their own Codex product obviating (most) need for an IDE and save themselves the $3 billion?

why OpenAI purchased windsurf instead of prompting openai to create something like windsurf? this is the question i am still asking...

They did. They’ve just released codex (CLI client).

They don’t have access to copilot users in general, Microsoft and Google does. And perhaps they are realizing that Microsoft is hedging them over multiple LLM providers and maybe no longer feeding them juicy copilot data, with humans in a tight loop, correcting LLMs.

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

#234

Post by FuckButtons » Tue, May 06, 2025, 7:46 PM UTC

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,…

I think you’re being overoptimistic about the skill ceiling that this generation of Ai is likely to have.

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

#235

Post by andai » Tue, May 06, 2025, 7:47 PM UTC

fcanesin wrote: post #119

OpenAI knows that everyday someone uses Gemini their ChatGPT brand dies a bit faster. Wonder what Google has in storage for I/O now in May, would be a death sentence to just steamroll with Gemini-3.

They launched a new version of Gemini 2.5 Pro today.

https://developers.googleblog.com/en/gemini-2-5-pro-io-impro...

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

#236

Post by lispisok » Tue, May 06, 2025, 7:49 PM UTC

bayarearefugee wrote: post #128

mrweasel wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why didn't they just use ChatGPT to build it? Weird.

Sometimes it almost seems like the idea that LLMs are capable of instantly creating real, maintainable software is vastly overblown to inflate valuations...

Somebody didnt read their daily PR article about how CEOs are replacing entire teams with a few "rockstars vibe coding with AI"

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

#237

Post by szundi » Tue, May 06, 2025, 7:50 PM UTC

AlwaysRock wrote: post #231

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,…

I was a little late to jump on the cursor bandwagon but finally downloaded it because i liked the LLM chat interface in the sidebar. By the time my free trial ran out, VSCode had added a LLM chat interface in the sidebar. Yes Cursor had a bit better auto complete and maybe a few other things but it wasnt good enough that it was worth paying for. But I'm glad OpenAI is getting into the tooling space in this way. I can…

[dead]

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

#238

Post by [deleted] » Tue, May 06, 2025, 7:51 PM UTC

moralestapia wrote: post #208

bix6 wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you know the cash / equity split?

I do know that OpenAI doesn't have 3B in cash to just throw around. So, I'd be inclined to believe the vast majority of the deal is stock (or whatever that is called pre-IPO).

[deleted]

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

#239

Post by andai » Tue, May 06, 2025, 7:51 PM UTC

remoroid wrote: post #111

Windsurf is terrible, I always use AI just in a normal website and I tried this product a few days ago and it asks me if it can run a command to make a file, which I find extremely strange, then it fails to write valid commands even to do mkdir.

That was my experience with OpenAI's Codex auto-coder thing (running o4-mini). It took 5 minutes and like 200 commands to do what Gemini 2.5 Flash (not even Pro!) did in about 30 seconds.

I see LLMs trying to do stuff that doesn't work in every AI coding thing I've tried, despite 20 pages of system prompts! (Or perhaps because of it.)

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

#240

Post by retornam » Tue, May 06, 2025, 7:52 PM UTC

I'm skeptical about this VSCode fork commanding a $3 billion valuation when it depends on API services it doesn't own. What's their moat here?

For comparison, JetBrains generates over $400 million in annual revenue and is valued around $7 billion. They've built proprietary technology and deep expertise in that market over decades.

If AI (terminology aside) replaces many professional software engineers and programmers like some of its fierce advocates say it would, wouldn't their potential customer base shrink?

Professionals typically drive enterprise revenue, while hobbyists—who might become the primary users—generally don't support the same business model or spending levels.

What am I missing here?