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Zed, a collaborative code editor, is now open source (zed.dev)

1576 points by FeroTheFox · 938 days ago · 601 comments on HN

Article summary

Zed, a collaborative code editor, is now open source, with its code available under a copyleft license on GitHub. The company behind Zed believes that making it open source will help make it the best product and allow it to connect with a wider community of developers. Zed's UI framework, GPUI, is distributed under the Apache 2 license, allowing for its use in other desktop applications. The company plans to continue investing in Zed's development through a sustainable business model, including services that integrate with the editor.

Main themes

  • open source
  • collaborative editing
  • platform support
  • remote development
  • business model
  • GPU API differences
  • devcontainers and SSH editing

What commenters say

  • Some commenters believe that Zed should prioritize support for Windows, given its popularity among developers, while others argue that this is not the most important factor in determining the first platform to target.
  • The use of WSL and remote development features, such as those found in VS Code, are seen as valuable by some commenters, who would like to see similar functionality in Zed.
  • Others argue that targeting the full featureset of another project, such as VS Code, is not a good strategy and that Zed should focus on its own unique strengths.
  • There is disagreement over the best approach to implementing remote development features, with some advocating for a more traditional approach, such as emacs tramp, and others preferring a more modern, VS Code-like approach.
  • Some commenters express frustration that Zed does not currently support certain platforms, such as macOS 10.14, and would like to see more flexibility in this regard.
  • The importance of GPU API differences and how to tackle them is also discussed, with some suggesting the use of wgpu as a potential solution.
  • The value of devcontainers and remote SSH editing is highlighted by some commenters, who see these features as essential to their workflow and would like to see them implemented in Zed.