7 ms·

This thesis has existed since Cursor first started, and the gap between them and VSCode has only widened since then. It’s worth spending some time thinking abou

This thesis has existed since Cursor first started, and the gap between them and VSCode has only widened since then. It’s worth spending some time thinking about why that may be before having such strong conviction about their demise.

roxolotl 1y ago
What are your thoughts on why it might be?
- mritchie712 1y ago
  * a small, focused team moves faster * cursor has great taste and that's hard to replicate at MS scale * Microsoft had allegiance to OpenAI early on which reduced their experimentation with other models
rched 1y ago
> the gap between them and VSCode has only widened since then What is in this gap? Do you know of any good resources that outline the features that Cursor provides over VSCode with Copilot?
- keeganpoppen 1y ago
  have you tried using either of them?
- yunwal 1y ago
  You can't really name a list of features that cursor has that copilot doesn't. It's more like: Cursor appears to heavily dogfood their features, VSCode's copilot seems to check the feature boxes, but each one sucks to use. The autocomplete popups are jarring. The copilot agent doesn't seem to gather the correct context. They still haven't figured out tool calling. It's really something you have to try rather than look at a checklist of features.
  - tough 1y ago
    I think your knowledge is a bit outdated? Cursor definetley still has an edge, but VSCode Github Copilot UI has come a long way and using the same underlying models for both the results are fairly similar and change only in ux niceties stuff like background agents cursor is way ahead. Zed Editor is a nice contender too
    - yunwal 1y ago
      I tried copilot agent like 3 weeks ago. If that much has changed since then, props to Microsoft. Zed is very nice, it’s just a totally different workflow. I think people who work in a domain where AI is not particularly strong would be better off with Zed, since Cursor’s way of reviewing edits is a little clumsy.
      - tough 1y ago
        yeah tbh copilot is really not -that great- compared to both cursor or zed. But i tihnk that's UX polish they can fix it if they cared we'll see i guess maybe MS prefers to just buy them out? Cursor getting out of price tho
  - 9rx 1y ago
    What about on the speed front? VS Code's biggest problem is with how slow it is. I'd already be done and on to the next (and maybe the next thing after that) by the time it finally gets around to things. I like the concept, but I only have so much time in a day.
    - runako 1y ago
      If you find VS Code to be slow, you might give Zed a try. I have been using Zed with my Claude API key and it's really something.
- websap 1y ago
  You can literally download and try it for free. Cursor is just better, its insane that Microsoft screwed up AGAIN!
subarctic 1y ago
You mean the gap in vscode compatibility?
- written-beyond 1y ago
  Yeah idk what "gap" every cursor user talks about. I installed cursor, it didn't work on wsl closed that chapter asap. Went to windsurf, enjoyed it but it's credit usage scheme was very confusing, nearly pressed the buy button until I went back to try copilot. Copilot is good enough, even the free tier gets whatever annoying tasks I don't want to do done. Anything more complex I already have a Gemini and ChatGPT subscription so I just do the old copy paste.

roxolotl 1y ago

What are your thoughts on why it might be?

mritchie712 1y ago
* a small, focused team moves faster * cursor has great taste and that's hard to replicate at MS scale * Microsoft had allegiance to OpenAI early on which reduced their experimentation with other models

rched 1y ago

> the gap between them and VSCode has only widened since then What is in this gap? Do you know of any good resources that outline the features that Cursor provides over VSCode with Copilot?

keeganpoppen 1y ago
have you tried using either of them?
yunwal 1y ago
You can't really name a list of features that cursor has that copilot doesn't. It's more like: Cursor appears to heavily dogfood their features, VSCode's copilot seems to check the feature boxes, but each one sucks to use. The autocomplete popups are jarring. The copilot agent doesn't seem to gather the correct context. They still haven't figured out tool calling. It's really something you have to try rather than look at a checklist of features.
- tough 1y ago
  I think your knowledge is a bit outdated? Cursor definetley still has an edge, but VSCode Github Copilot UI has come a long way and using the same underlying models for both the results are fairly similar and change only in ux niceties stuff like background agents cursor is way ahead. Zed Editor is a nice contender too
  - yunwal 1y ago
    I tried copilot agent like 3 weeks ago. If that much has changed since then, props to Microsoft. Zed is very nice, it’s just a totally different workflow. I think people who work in a domain where AI is not particularly strong would be better off with Zed, since Cursor’s way of reviewing edits is a little clumsy.
    - tough 1y ago
      yeah tbh copilot is really not -that great- compared to both cursor or zed. But i tihnk that's UX polish they can fix it if they cared we'll see i guess maybe MS prefers to just buy them out? Cursor getting out of price tho
- 9rx 1y ago
  What about on the speed front? VS Code's biggest problem is with how slow it is. I'd already be done and on to the next (and maybe the next thing after that) by the time it finally gets around to things. I like the concept, but I only have so much time in a day.
  - runako 1y ago
    If you find VS Code to be slow, you might give Zed a try. I have been using Zed with my Claude API key and it's really something.
websap 1y ago
You can literally download and try it for free. Cursor is just better, its insane that Microsoft screwed up AGAIN!

subarctic 1y ago

You mean the gap in vscode compatibility?

written-beyond 1y ago
Yeah idk what "gap" every cursor user talks about. I installed cursor, it didn't work on wsl closed that chapter asap. Went to windsurf, enjoyed it but it's credit usage scheme was very confusing, nearly pressed the buy button until I went back to try copilot. Copilot is good enough, even the free tier gets whatever annoying tasks I don't want to do done. Anything more complex I already have a Gemini and ChatGPT subscription so I just do the old copy paste.