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: 1) by anubi on Monday May 07 2018, @08:15AM
I get the idea even the author never knew if his work was laden with snoopware by the compiler itself. And with the filesizes what they are, and the obfuscation of the source code, one simply doesn't have the time to investigate.
If it works... ship it.
A business-class product.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]