In something like VScode, the features are categorized in a hierarchy and arranged in layers in the left sidebar in a sensical drill-down pattern. I can never find the features easily because I don't know which pane or tab group it's supposed to be in. Why is npm a tab bar in the lower left, the actual npm list in a pane above it, git/terminal debugger on the bottom, the code editor in the upper right, the db browser in the upper right sidebar (which isn't even visible by default), the db query itself in a tab mixed with the code editor, the debugger output in the bottom but the button to start it in the top toolbar.

Some of the most common patterns (going between the terminal, code editor, debugger, git, npm, and DB browser) requires navigating between like seven different places in no logical arrangement. Though since you mentioned IntelliJ, I find its UI pretty hectic too, a hodgepodge of 90s-style MDI and modern tabs and split panes. I've heard something about a graphical widget kit that emulates native on Java, but as far as I can tell IntelliJ (and most Java apps I've seen) don't use it. Nothing looks or feels native on any platform. I don't actually mean IntelliJ in particular, but Java having its own UI kit. What's the long-term play that I'm missing? Either they keep Fleet cut down, disadvantaging it in comparisons against VSCode, or they make it full-featured, and cannibalize IntelliJ license renewals. I really don't understand the product strategy here. They're not like Microsoft, where sacrificing some Visual Studio sales can be justified as a way of attracting developers to the broader platform. Their IDEs are cross-platform (though, admittedly, some platforms are more equal than others). VSCode was an effort to reach out to those developers and tell them, 'Hey, even if you don't use Windows, even if you've never touched C#, we still have something to offer you.' They didn't have anything to offer for developers who weren't already bought into the Windows/.Net stack. I understand why Microsoft came out with VSCode.

If they did that, then why would anyone buy IntelliJ? >If they make it free, they could get a big chunk of the market, especially if they actually provide it with IntelliJ level of autocomplete, refactorings, multicursor support etc.

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