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MS Releases "Visual Studio Code" - a Slim Cross Platform Code Editor
Microsoft appears like they may actually be starting to get serious about cross platform support. Their new slim code editor for developing cloud applications supports both OS X and Linux, as well as Windows.
At its Build developer conference, Microsoft today announced the launch of Visual Studio Code, a lightweight cross-platform code editor for writing modern web and cloud applications that will run on OS X, Linux and Windows. The application is still officially in preview, but you can now download it here (if this link isn’t live yet, give it a few more minutes and then try again).
This marks the first time that Microsoft offers developers a true cross-platform code editor. The full Visual Studio is still Windows-only, but today’s announcement shows the company’s commitment to supporting other platforms.
From the Techcrunch article:
Today’s announcement will surely come as a surprise to many. It does, however, fit in well with the direction the company’s developer group has been on for quite a while now, be that the open sourcing of .NET Core (and taking that platform cross-platform) or the launch of the free Visual Studio Community edition.
Another Publicity Stunt from MSFT: "Visual Studio Code"
Roy Schestowitz at TechRights reports "Visual Studio Code": Not News, Not Free, Not Open Source
Another publicity stunt from Microsoft, this time going under the name "Visual Studio Code", which is basically proprietary lock-in
Despite an openwashing campaign and an effort to deceive the public (as chronicled here before), Visual Studio is (and will remain) proprietary. There is currently yet another PR blitz from Microsoft, which at the moment is trying to openwash it and pretend that it's "news" (it's not, it goes back to last year).
Sadly, some FOSS proponents have already fallen for it and Phoronix is doing marketing for Microsoft. This is not really news and it's not even a surprise. It's just some publicity stunt which got Microsoft boosters and Microsoft-friendly sites on board.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Marand on Friday May 01 2015, @12:45AM
"gewg_" writes however, with an entirely opposite take
Of course he did. He still hasn't outgrown the 90's fad of calling Microsoft 'M$' or 'MICROS~1'; did anybody actually expect him to link something that isn't negative about Microsoft's actions?
I don't really care much for MS and this editor doesn't interest me, but it's cool that they're trying. It seems more like testing new waters than "embrace extend extinguish", trying different things to attract devs and mobile interest (like the android/iOS recompile thing).
(Score: 1, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 01 2015, @01:14AM
Uh oh, now you've done it. Every time someone says something that's not 100% negative about Microsoft in a Microsoft article on this site, they are drowned in neckbeard spittle and deafened by the furious typing of script kiddies who weren't even born when Windows XP came out. You may as well have walked into the heart of North Korea wearing an American flag cape and apple pies in each hand, with a bald eagle on your shoulder.
It was nice knowing you...
(Score: 2) by Marand on Friday May 01 2015, @09:38AM
I seem to have tempted fate and lived to tell the tale. It must be my wit and charm that saved me. :p
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 01 2015, @07:26PM
Indeed, some aren't so lucky. What kills me are the "Microdick sucks no matter what! LOLZ" comments coming from otherwise intelligent folks. I've seen more than one commenter here make insightful, intelligent, articulate comments about something unrelated to Microsoft, but when that dreaded name pops up suddenly they revert to their childhood days and begin spewing forth gibberish and vitriol that paints a completely different picture of themselves. I guess that's a given when the bulk of your membership comes from the other site, but I thought this place was above such inanity.
And their only defense? "Duh, Microsucks was teh evil back in the 90s when I was being conceived in the back of a Corolla, my mommy told me so!" They have no concept of change or progression, or else they can't admit that companies can and do change direction when they change leadership.
Personally? I think Microsoft is doing it for the money, not for the good will it might one day earn them. They are a corporation, so they are supposed to be beholden to the almighty dollar. I'd just like to see these narrow minded spittle-slingers start calling out Apple and Google for their evil shenanigans as well. At this point, if you put Google's evil deeds for the past five years on the balance against Microsoft's over the same period, you'd see Google sinking fast.
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Friday May 01 2015, @01:51PM
This is Soylent, not the green site. Commenters here are actually reasonable and often insightful.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 2) by Marand on Saturday May 02 2015, @12:49AM
Unfortunately, it looks like the AC was right after all; it just took the angry downmodders a day or so to either notice me or get mod points. Or they waited a day hoping nobody else will come along and up-mod me again, maybe.
My longer comment even got hit with a troll mod, for fuck's sake. How was that trolling? I stated my view, followed it up with elaboration on why I said it, and even presented thoughts on how I thought different outcomes would play out. The thin-skinned folk need to figure out this isn't tumblr, and that "trolling" actually means something more substantial than "made a statement that does not conform to my world view" and/or "boohoo my feels". Or it used to, at least.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Marand on Friday May 01 2015, @02:25AM
I don't really care much for MS and this editor doesn't interest me, but it's cool that they're trying. It seems more like testing new waters than "embrace extend extinguish", trying different things to attract devs and mobile interest (like the android/iOS recompile thing).
I wanted to elaborate on this part a bit now that I'm at a physical keyboard.
I don't generally like Microsoft products, and I definitely dislike some of the tactics they've used against competition in the past, but I'm not foolish enough to think the other big players now would have done any different in the same situation. I don't want Microsoft to completely fail because it would leave a gap that, most likely, Google or Apple would fill. Considering how those two have acted without the 90% monopoly Microsoft had at its peak, I don't doubt they'd be even worse than 90's MS given the same monopoly position.
I'd rather have a weakened Microsoft, which is what we seem to be seeing now. All three (Apple, MS, Google) have their own platforms and none is completely dominant. That makes cross-platform development attractive, which means it's easier to choose the OS you want instead of being stuck with only one option. It may even lead to a resurgence of alternate OSes like we once had, before Amiga and BeOS and others got crushed by the Windows behemoth. There are signs of it in mobile, at least; Android and iOS are dominant, but Blackberry's still around, Windows phone has its dedicated fans, and outside of the US you can actually get things like Jolla or Ubuntu phones. (Aside from iOS, they all seem to be converging on Android compatibility as the cross-platform layer, for better or worse)
I think some people believe that, if MS falls, Linux would rise to fill its place and we'd have some kind of FOSS utopia. Bullshit. For that to happen, we'd need corporate interests to push it, getting their distros installed on hardware. Those businesses aren't going to be doing that for anyone's benefit but their own, though, and it would just encourage the creation of another OSX, Android, or ChromeOS: free software used as the base for yet another proprietary userland*. Also, anybody that's bitched about Linux being dumbed down over the years as it got easier to use? Yeah, that would continue to happen on a massive scale as businesses try to make the OS "friendlier" to the masses to maximise profit. I'd rather have the Linuxes and BSDs carve out a niche in a market that's split among multiple OSes, like they're doing. (Slightly larger than now maybe, but not at the cost of bowing to corporate interests.)
So, despite not particularly liking MS (or any of the other big players), I don't want them to fail, because the alternatives look worse.
* I wouldn't be surprised if MS tries this one day, if things get bad enough. Win32 and win64 are basically platforms on top of the OS, so it's not completely insane to imagine them, in desperation, trying to release a "Windows" software layer that works on top of other platforms such as OS X. Basically the inverse of what they're currently trying with iOS and Android compatibility. Would take some crazy desperation, though.
(Score: 4, Informative) by jasassin on Friday May 01 2015, @04:25AM
From what I've read on the nets, this is a rethemed fork of the atom ide on github. https://atom.io/ [atom.io]
jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0xE6462C68A9A3DB5A