The signs are undeniable at this point.
The very first sign was when Microsoft refused to port Visual Studio (VS) to 64 bit. While VS is indeed a large codebase, MS had no qualms doing the same for Microsoft Office. The fact that they no longer want to invest too much resources into it should point to the fact Visual Studio is very much in maintenance mode now.
Visual Studio was always paid software. But in 2014 MS introduced the Community Edition. The only real difference between it and the Pro (paid) version is the 'Code Lens' feature. Another sign that MS no longer sees Visual Studio as driving any meaningful revenue.
[...] Visual Studio Code continues to release enhancements every single month, moving at a fast pace. Compare that to Visual Studio Pro, whose development seems pretty much only about updating its integration of the various Language Services to the latest version.
With Microsoft's focus shifting from Windows to Azure, it is but natural that they no longer want an IDE that runs only on Windows. Thus comes in VS Code, a free, cross platform IDE that supports all modern languages.
(Score: 2) by RamiK on Sunday May 06 2018, @08:24PM (3 children)
VSCode came up winning the "preferred code editor" category in the 2017 Go survey: https://blog.golang.org/survey2017-results [golang.org]
And mind you, the same survey found 64% linux, 49% macos and only 18% windows desktop users (multiple choice) so you can't just hand-wave it saying most of the sampled golang users are windows users. Especially considering the (neck-to-neck) runner-up is Vim. Though admittedly, it's a small sample size of a specific niche community of VSCode users. Still, a third-party survey confirmation...
compiling...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 06 2018, @08:29PM (1 child)
golang users are a special breed
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 06 2018, @08:55PM
Actually from what I've seen they're your typical back-end devs. Most come from Python and Java. A few from C++. Basically all the hallmarks of a boring business language just without the gradual feature creep and abstraction breakage. The generics issue is unfortunate though... But if it's the only way to keeps the code base sane and readable without five team meetings and multiple code-reviews for every LoC a day then it's a small price to pay.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 07 2018, @03:14AM
I suspect a significant portion of that 64% Microsoft IDE + self reported linux desktop users are really windows users who are ashamed to admit they use windows since windows users are somewhat looked down upon as non-technical and less proficient.
My circle is *NIX folks-- pretty much just vim and emacs-- no sign of a mouse centric IDE anywhere to be seen.