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Sequoia backs Zed

zed.dev

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Re: Sequoia backs Zed

#241

Post by phendrenad2 »

aranelsurion wrote: post #125
toastercat wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sublime Text solved this 17 years ago with the 40-year-old shareware model. It's also faster than Zed, works on Linux/Win/MacOS, and is decently customizable.

There was a time around ST2 when it felt like everyone was using it and it could've become The Editor, then something happened and it's been left in the dust. I wasn't even aware but apparently even fourth version of ST was released, and that was in 2021. I lost track of what happened there (moved to Vim back then), was it VSCode that killed it?

Yes, VSCode killed it, because VSCode was free. Which is kind of sad because ST2 is actually noticeably faster than VSCode. Someone mentioned Atom, but that was never really a contender, not many people used it.

Re: Sequoia backs Zed

#242

Post by wolvesechoes »

zkoch wrote: post #98

I love working in Zed. It really is a delight to use, and I think the Agentic coding integration is really well done. I'm excited to see them investing in this space more. I understand people's concerns about VC funding, but I think building quality products takes capital. The funding is still relatively small, especially when you compare it to players like Cursor, etc. And I think Zed is a much, much better product!…

> I understand people's concerns about VC funding, but I think building quality products takes capital.

When VC funding comes in it stops being about building any products, because the company itself becomes a product.

Re: Sequoia backs Zed

#243

Post by dewey »

timeon wrote: post #240
dewey wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They didn’t “solve” it, otherwise it would be a thriving editor that everyone would be using. In reality 70% of the people I see are using Cursor (Subscription), Vscode (Free) or some JetBrains products (Subscription). I only know of some people including myself that have ST for opening large files, where performance matters.

Why do you think that it is not thriving? Is the company struggling? Not everyone needs to use the thing to be thriving.

I don't have any insights into how the company is doing, I'm just going by the sample set of people around me or things I read.

I'm a fan of indie software and native apps but I know zero people in the past 10 years that switched to ST. I know plenty of people of people who switched to Vscode and all the other free or paid competitors. It's probably enough to sustain a small company, and not everyone has to strive for a monopoly. But I wouldn't call that thriving.

Re: Sequoia backs Zed

#244

Post by Ygg2 »

shawabawa3 wrote: post #230
jonas21 wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's less that they sat on their laurels and more that a team of 2 had trouble keeping up with the dozens of well-paid folks working on VSCode. Which suggests that perhaps a shareware model did not work out so well for them.

They literally stopped developing for about 5 years, it wasn't just about the team not keeping up

Why would you stop developing for 5 years?

Re: Sequoia backs Zed

#245

Post by timeon »

sexyman48 wrote: post #144
spudlyo wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with accepting VC money is they will eventually demand a return on their investment, which means that the forces that drive enshitification will eventually come for Zed in some form. I suspect that we'll see more and more features locked behind a paid subscription and the open core of the editor will become neglected over time. Here I am on my free-as-in-freedom operating system, making commits with my fr…

Please, tell me what it's like living in your free-as-in-freedom house, feeding your free-as-in-freedom offspring? Eventually demanding a return on your investment? The audacity!

Sure but does it mean that every business needs to be unicorn?

Re: Sequoia backs Zed

#246

Post by ben-schaaf »

AstroBen wrote: post #219
mstade wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get this Sublime is dead nonsense. It's still being updated and works great. It's been my editor of choice for years and I happily pay for my license. I'd probably pay more if they asked me, it's tremendous value for money in my opinion.

Eh.. I gave ST4 a go earlier this year and moved away from it due to plugins I wanted not being updated for years, and no longer working. That really feels on the cusp of being dead to me There needs to be a critical mass of people using it for things that aren't core to stay updated

Out of curiosity which plugins didn't work for you?

Re: Sequoia backs Zed

#248

Post by witx »

witx wrote: post #27

> we've been building the world's fastest IDE Any data to backup this?

Just to clarify: I'm not saying I doubt they are the fastest, I don't know and I don't care. What I do care is that a company (a VC backed one specially) that markets their product like that follows the statement with proof, otherwise we should call it BS

Re: Sequoia backs Zed

#249

Post by k_bx »

csense wrote: post #194

I'm willing to accept this claim: - You can make money when your product is a text editor. I am very skeptical of these claims: - When your product is a text editor, $42 million in capital can be effectively deployed to make meaningful improvements to your product. - When your product is a text editor, your lifetime inflation-adjusted profit will eventually exceed $42 million. Sequoia is apparently not so skeptical,…

If the world is moving towards open models which are "good enough" – the main winner will be the one controlling the distribution. So if you're controlling the web browser, the editor or the OS – you are the winner.

Obviously, the risk here is very high from this perspective, since nothing guarantees anything.

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