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

OpenAI’s Windsurf deal is off, and Windsurf’s CEO is going to Google

theverge.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 712 posts

Re: OpenAI’s Windsurf deal is off, and Windsurf’s CEO is going to Google

#61

Post by alanmoraes »

extr wrote: post #56

IMO other than the Microsoft IP issue, I think the biggest thing that has shifted since this acquisition was first in the works is Claude Code has absolutely exploded. Forking an IDE and all the expense that comes with that feels like a waste of effort, considering the number of free/open source CLI agentic tools that are out there. Let's review the current state of things: - Terminal CLI agents are several orders of…

I never understood why those tools need to fork Visual Studio Code. Wouldn't an extension suffice?

Re: OpenAI’s Windsurf deal is off, and Windsurf’s CEO is going to Google

#62

Post by raincole »

asdev wrote: post #30

I never knew anyone who used Windsurf. These AI acquisitions have been unbelievable(in a bad way). WIX acquired some garbage Lovable.dev clone for 80 million. I think many of us are waiting for this bubble to pop(economy will likely pop too)

Well I use Windsurf. It's a good alternative to GitHub Copilot. The free tier is on par with Copilot's paid plan.

...which no one talks about anymore. Okay I guess you have a point.

Re: OpenAI’s Windsurf deal is off, and Windsurf’s CEO is going to Google

#63

Post by sothatsit »

xyst wrote: post #47
wagwang wrote: post #10

All of this game of thrones is going to create an amazing documentary if AI capabilities taper off and valuations vaporize.

Apparently somebody missed crypto mania between 2019-2022

AI has nothing in common with crypto other than it being hyped a lot. The better comparison is the dot-com bubble.

Re: OpenAI’s Windsurf deal is off, and Windsurf’s CEO is going to Google

#64

Post by jonas21 »

_jab wrote: post #51
jonny_eh wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The “leftover” employees at Character were NOT screwed over. Options were converted to cash at the deal’s valuation. Hopefully Windsurf employees are treated well here. Note: I worked at Character until recently.

On the flipside, I’m pretty sure the investors got screwed.

The investors made money too. The valuation at the last round was $1B, and Google paid them out at a valuation of $2.5B as part of the agreement [1].

[1] https://www.theverge.com/2024/8/2/24212348/google-hires-char...

Re: OpenAI’s Windsurf deal is off, and Windsurf’s CEO is going to Google

#65

Post by extr »

alanmoraes wrote: post #61
extr wrote: post #56

IMO other than the Microsoft IP issue, I think the biggest thing that has shifted since this acquisition was first in the works is Claude Code has absolutely exploded. Forking an IDE and all the expense that comes with that feels like a waste of effort, considering the number of free/open source CLI agentic tools that are out there. Let's review the current state of things: - Terminal CLI agents are several orders of…

I never understood why those tools need to fork Visual Studio Code. Wouldn't an extension suffice?

IIRC problem is that VS Code does not allow extensions to create custom UI in the panels areas except for WebViews(?). It makes for not a great experience. Plus Cursor does a lot with background indexing to make their tab completion model really good - more than would be possible with the extensions APIs available.

Re: OpenAI’s Windsurf deal is off, and Windsurf’s CEO is going to Google

#66

Post by bravetraveler »

takklz wrote: post #39
metadat wrote: post #21

It's another Character.ai situation [0]. Unfortunate for any employees who aren't founders or researchers, as they don't get any payout or a nice new job from this exit structure. In fact they lose their whole time invested at the company. What a harsh time to work for an AI startup as a rank and file employee! I wonder how the founders justify going along with it inside their mind. [0] Character.ai CEO Noam Shazeer…

The rank and file equity pitch is quickly falling apart…

Think it started that way... I'm currently in a vesting/allocation situation where the incentive is to drive the share price down.

Re: OpenAI’s Windsurf deal is off, and Windsurf’s CEO is going to Google

#67

Post by gowld »

jonny_eh wrote: post #40
metadat wrote: post #21

It's another Character.ai situation [0]. Unfortunate for any employees who aren't founders or researchers, as they don't get any payout or a nice new job from this exit structure. In fact they lose their whole time invested at the company. What a harsh time to work for an AI startup as a rank and file employee! I wonder how the founders justify going along with it inside their mind. [0] Character.ai CEO Noam Shazeer…

The “leftover” employees at Character were NOT screwed over. Options were converted to cash at the deal’s valuation. Hopefully Windsurf employees are treated well here. Note: I worked at Character until recently.

Whose cash? OpenAI isn't paying, and Google isn't paying, and Windsurf investors already paid.

Re: OpenAI’s Windsurf deal is off, and Windsurf’s CEO is going to Google

#68

Post by gowld »

ipsum2 wrote: post #41
metadat wrote: post #21

It's another Character.ai situation [0]. Unfortunate for any employees who aren't founders or researchers, as they don't get any payout or a nice new job from this exit structure. In fact they lose their whole time invested at the company. What a harsh time to work for an AI startup as a rank and file employee! I wonder how the founders justify going along with it inside their mind. [0] Character.ai CEO Noam Shazeer…

Not really true, I believe the "acquiring" (i.e. Google) company buys some equity from the employees (windsurf). Edit: the people downvoting this clearly can't read, I made the exact same point as jonny_eh.

The acquisition of Windsurf was cancelled.

Re: OpenAI’s Windsurf deal is off, and Windsurf’s CEO is going to Google

#69

Post by helloericsf »

_jab wrote: post #51
jonny_eh wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The “leftover” employees at Character were NOT screwed over. Options were converted to cash at the deal’s valuation. Hopefully Windsurf employees are treated well here. Note: I worked at Character until recently.

On the flipside, I’m pretty sure the investors got screwed.

Honestly depends on when they got in. Seed investors? They're probably fine with their preferences. Series B and beyond? That's where it gets messy. What round you thinking?
Post reply on HN