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Microsoft is introducing hidden APIs to VS Code only enabled for Copilot?

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Re: Microsoft is introducing hidden APIs to VS Code only enabled for Copilot?

#41

Post by tristan957 »

throw4950sh06 wrote: post #29
tristan957 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are other extensions like Codeium[0] allowed to publish under the same rules? I'm not saying your comment is incorrect, but unless Copilot competitors can get the same treatment, it seems extremely unfair and anti-competitive. [0]: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=Codeium....

[flagged]

> VSCode is provided fully free as in beer and freedom

No, VSCode is a proprietary text editor/IDE from Microsoft. Code-OSS is provided fully free as in beer and freedom, and is currently what resides at https://github.com/microsoft/vscode.

Why would Microsoft not want other AI agent extensions to get the same benefits, which would benefit all AI agent users?

Edit: I have removed the portion of the comment which discussed the throwaway account.

Re: Microsoft is introducing hidden APIs to VS Code only enabled for Copilot?

#42

Post by Lramseyer »

frenchie4111 wrote: post #13

Everyone is reading this as intentional anti-competitive practices. While that may be true, isn't another reasonable explanation that the Copilot development team is moving as fast as they can and these sorts of workarounds are being forced through in the name of team velocity? It takes a lot more time/energy to push public APIs and it's probably a very different team than the team developing the copilot extension. S…

Not malicious, but still selfish. It's important to remember that the copilot extensions are an extremely effective way of monetizing VScode. So it seems more like they're kind of compromising on their API usage rules in order to get to market quicker. But allowing themselves to use the APIs before anyone else is in a way anti-competitive, because the only way one could compete would be to use the unfinished APIs. But that requires users to go through more hoops to install your extension.

I should also mention that I am a VScode extension developer and I'm one of the weirdos that actually takes the time to read about API updates. They are putting in a lot of effort in developing language model APIs. So it's not like they're outright blocking others from their marketplace.

Re: Microsoft is introducing hidden APIs to VS Code only enabled for Copilot?

#43

Post by rcarmo »

I honestly don't see the issue here (Full disclosure: I work for Microsoft, but in professional services, not in product - and nevertheless fully expect to be downvoted to oblivion).

If these aren't finished, that most likely means that they still haven't stabilized enough to go through the full support and release pipeline--that usually means documenting them, publishing a couple of reference development samples, doing a public announcement, i.e., the full nine yards of fostering adoption of the product feature.

Which you typically will only do once the "preview" is stable and flexible enough to pass muster.

I mean, it's not as if there isn't a huge API surface for the editor (the sample extensions repo is huge - https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-extension-samples), and there are already samples out there to extend the Copilot functionality: https://github.com/joyceerhl/vscode-mssql-chat (I wrote my own based off this one for a personal project)

So maybe consider that those things just take time to build out fully before assuming the worst?

Re: Microsoft is introducing hidden APIs to VS Code only enabled for Copilot?

#45

Post by hggigg »

dartos wrote: post #31
hggigg wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey I'm right in the middle: I use a Mac and use open source software on it, while moaning how shitty both are.

Enlightened enough to know that open source is good, but smart enough to realize that it’s a pain. I’ve embraced the pain and have been using Linux as my daily driver for like 5 years.

Yeah not happening here. I am Adobe and Apple's bitch.

I mean I'd really like to but the software I use just isn't there.

Re: Microsoft is introducing hidden APIs to VS Code only enabled for Copilot?

#46

Post by fragmede »

dartos wrote: post #24
hggigg wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was that bit a few years back where the HN folk saw Satya as the second coming of Microsoft and anything even slightly critical or suspicious of Microsoft was downvoted to oblivion as highly implausible. I think people are still coming down from that high. He's not the messiah, he's a naughty businessman! (Note: I shot my HN account then because the majority of the MS stuff on here was utterly intolerable for m…

People on HN seem to be either very anti-corporatist or love to white knight big tech There’s no in between.

the inbetweeners who are here aren't motivated to post about being in-between, which is why it reads that way, unfortunately.

Re: Microsoft is introducing hidden APIs to VS Code only enabled for Copilot?

#47

Post by tristan957 »

rty32 wrote: post #33
throw4950sh06 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Exactly. That's what Cursor did, and (I think) Microsoft will agree with that and maybe even welcome developers to do this.

Has Microsoft allowed Cursor to access the VSCode Marketplace? As far as I know, it is against the ToS for any editor other than VSCode to access it.

Re: Microsoft is introducing hidden APIs to VS Code only enabled for Copilot?

#48

Post by throwaway19972 »

frenchie4111 wrote: post #13

Everyone is reading this as intentional anti-competitive practices. While that may be true, isn't another reasonable explanation that the Copilot development team is moving as fast as they can and these sorts of workarounds are being forced through in the name of team velocity? It takes a lot more time/energy to push public APIs and it's probably a very different team than the team developing the copilot extension. S…

> Everyone is reading this as intentional anti-competitive practices

Who cares about intention? Anti-competitive behavior is anti-competitive behavior.

Re: Microsoft is introducing hidden APIs to VS Code only enabled for Copilot?

#49

Post by boredtofears »

hggigg wrote: post #20
dartos wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Going back? When did they stop?

There was that bit a few years back where the HN folk saw Satya as the second coming of Microsoft and anything even slightly critical or suspicious of Microsoft was downvoted to oblivion as highly implausible. I think people are still coming down from that high. He's not the messiah, he's a naughty businessman! (Note: I shot my HN account then because the majority of the MS stuff on here was utterly intolerable for m…

It’s possible to be both critical of Microsoft’s past and also pleased at their last decade of efforts in OSS with things like vscode and typescript.

Re: Microsoft is introducing hidden APIs to VS Code only enabled for Copilot?

#50

Post by rcarmo »

gavinray wrote: post #17
frenchie4111 wrote: post #13

Everyone is reading this as intentional anti-competitive practices. While that may be true, isn't another reasonable explanation that the Copilot development team is moving as fast as they can and these sorts of workarounds are being forced through in the name of team velocity? It takes a lot more time/energy to push public APIs and it's probably a very different team than the team developing the copilot extension. S…

Seems like the only sensible comment in this thread so far. Here's what I imagine it's like working on the Copilot team: > Mgmt: "We need this feature, and we need in 2 weeks." > Devs: "That feature is not technically possible." > Mgmt: "Well, figure out a way to make it possible. That's _your_ problem."

The few people I know in the Copilot team(s) (not necessarily VS Code) are laser focused on prioritizing features based on customer demand, not top-down guidance :)
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