[fhdsgbbcaA]

I think it’s a bit worrisome that Microsoft can give away VS Code for free because they subsidize it in other ways, but JetBrains - a small software shop - clearly is being forced into this position.

Just more Big Tech setting the terms for all of us trying to make a living.

[jasomill]

While I don't disagree with your overall point, it seems worth pointing out that JetBrains has over 2,000 employees, so it's only small in comparison with industry giants, and that Rider has been successfully competing with "free" from day one: both VSCode and Visual Studio have been free for non-commercial and commercial use by individuals and small organizations for longer than Rider has existed as a product.

And Rider was built on IntelliJ and ReSharper, two products that successfully "competed with free" for many years before then.

So, if anything, I'd say that JetBrains is at worst reasonably well-positioned to survive dumping by larger competitors with more diverse product lines.

[fhdsgbbcaA]

At 2k headcount they aren’t a bespoke vendor for sure, but the big tech CEOs can put that many people in a project at a whim, which is kinda scary to think about.

[danhau]

I suspect JB know most of their revenue comes from corporate licenses (I‘m guessing), so this shouldn‘t cut their bottom line significantly, while simultaneously giving them a foot in the door of potential new customers. Get them hooked for private / OS projects, then sell them commercial licenses.

[fhdsgbbcaA]

Agree, but some part of me feels uneasy with the idea that Big Tech can, and will, take any product somebody has put blood, sweat, and tears into, copy it, and give it away for free.

This isn’t a new problem, but every time I see some form of “free” it gives me pause.

[Kwpolska]

I don’t think JetBrains was forced to make Rider free. Their main customers are businesses, which still need to pay for Rider. Businesses also need to pay for Visual Studio (purple icon) if they have more than 5 developers. VS Code can theoretically do C# for free, but the free plugin is limited, and the paid plugin requires a Visual Studio license (it is mediocre anyway).