[shp0ngle]

Note that this is not "actual" VSCode, but its fork code-server, that takes VSCode and modifies it to run in a browser.

https://github.com/cdr/code-server

This package just installs code-server on Google Colab, whatever that is.

Hosted VSCode instances that Microsoft has on Azure and in beta on GitHub are a different thing and are not open source.

[echelon]

> Hosted VSCode instances that Microsoft has on Azure and in beta on GitHub are a different thing and are not open source.

I can see it now: one day all of our engineering work will happen exclusively in the cloud and we'll all be using thin clients.

Just like smart phones, the typical desktop or laptop will become a dumb device. A Chromebook, but worse.

Subscribe to your tools, for the low monthly cost of only... And wait, there's more. You can upgrade your storage and execution time package.

Augh.

[nwienert]

Yep. And Google Colab is a Trojan horse. Give away free GPUs for a few years to choke out any competition, guaranteed they start charging for them once they’ve done that.

[farisjarrah]

I like seeing arguments like these and then I go and see people do stuff like this where people get Debian running on Kindles:

https://github.com/kathamer/DebianKindle

Whenever there is locked down hardware, invariably there is always someone trying to hack it.

[candiodari]

https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.en.html

[craftinator]

> This package just installs code-server on Google Colab, whatever that is.

I laughed way too hard at this, because I have thoughts like this bounce around my head nearly every time I read about a Google product. It reminds me of Microsoft circa ~2006, when they were doing all kinds of wacky and ill-defined projects that turned into pure bloatware.

[sigwinch28]

I have just started using Google Apps as an employee which uses it for everything

Me: "oooh! Google Currents! That sounds cool. Is it some workflow designer tool?"

Me: "oh, it's Google Plus."

[shp0ngle]

It sounded more disparaging than I meant it

I just have no idea what is Google Colab, I don't do Python/TensorFlow/jupyter, I don't know what "notebook" means in this context.

[mbreese]

> code-server, that takes VSCode and modifies it to run in a browser

Not only that, but it's also only the open-source parts of VSCode. Notably, you don't get access to the same extensions marketplace. Code-server does link to many open-source extensions, but certain things (e.g. Intellisense) aren't available.