undefined | Better HN

0 points8fingerlouie7mo ago0 comments

ST is also all but dead.

They switched to a subscription model (3 year licenses are still subscriptions), and since the release of ST4 in 2021, there has been exactly one release with new features (May 2025). All other releases have been bug fixes and "improvements".

I get that developers need to make a living, but 4 years of fixing bugs in your products is probably not what I want to be paying for, at least not when that is the only thing I'm getting. Speaking of releases, they're also usually 6-12 months apart.

I have used ST ever since the first version replaced TextMate for my use (TM2 spent something like a decade catching up to ST2), but I've since switched to Code and Zed (mostly Zed as of late, Code on windows until Zed is ready there).

ST was great back when it was still an actively maintained product, but in recent years (ever since ST2) it has felt like it was mostly on the back burner and other editors have passed it in functionality.

As for VC funding, it has done miracles for Code to have Microsoft sponsor it (and others). Code is currently the editor to beat for anything that doesn't involve opening large files.

0 comments

ben-schaaf7mo ago

> They switched to a subscription model (3 year licenses are still subscriptions)

Licenses are perpetual. It is not a subscription. Don't like the work we've done? You can continue to use that version of Sublime Text until the end of time.

> there has been exactly one release with new features (May 2025)

August 2024 we added kinetic scroll and xdg-activation support for Wayland; we also added the ability to configure image extensions and allow dynamically switching between the hex-editor and image view.

November 2023 we added native font dialog support for switching fonts.

August 2023 we added webp and proper support for running as administrator on all platforms.

November 2022 we added syntax-based code folding and operating system recent file integration

December 2021 we added GB18030 support.

I'll stop there. Those are just the largest, most user facing new features, not any of the new settings, new APIs or improvements that I'd argue are new features.

You can read the full changelogs here: https://www.sublimetext.com/download

> Speaking of releases, they're also usually 6-12 months apart.

We do stable releases infrequently, because they're stable. If you want more frequent releases you can switch to the development releases. You can see from the build number how many builds we've done of ST4 since the release: it's around 150.

8fingerlouieOP7mo ago

> You can continue to use that version of Sublime Text until the end of time.

Or until some change in the underlying OS makes it no longer able to run. Not saying that happens frequently, but it does happen.

> I'll stop there. Those are just the largest, most user facing new features, not any of the new settings, new APIs or improvements that I'd argue are new features.

New font pickers, settings dialogues and other "polish" is hardly what i'd call new features. I listed those as "improvements".

I'm not trying to start a fight, and i respect the work that has been done, but VS Code releases more features in a month that ST has released in the entire ST4 lifecycle, as does Zed. I understand the team is (a lot) smaller. My frustration is that when a new release comes out, it's mostly polish, and not fixing the real problems, such as lack of integration and plugins.

You may choose to brush it off as just an old fart rambling on the internet, but i'm not alone with this opinion, and i have ST licenses dating back to the original version, and i have chosen not to renew my ST4 license. When you start losing the "religious" users, maybe it's time to reevaluate ?

handsclean7mo ago

Please don’t conflate limited updates with subscriptions. The problems with subscriptions are that the company can take away your own files, the company can take away your software, the lifetime cost is extremely high, and the company can unilaterally change the deal or stop offering one. None of this applies to limited updates offers like Sublime Text’s. You pay once and keep it forever. The three year limit is on the time into the future for which the company continues to add to what you’re keeping forever. Of course this isn’t unlimited, it’s pay once for the program, not pay once for the lifetime servitude of everybody who works on it.

awill7mo ago

It does look like ST is lost here. They don't know where to go next. But I do like their Sublime Merge product. It's really good.

kamaal7mo ago

That no major AI players even bother to announce a ST plugin/package is proof enough, its now just a tool to manage random text copy/paste snippets.

vscode seems to have totally taken over dev mindshare these days.

skydhash7mo ago

They also don’t bother to announce a Vim or Emacs one either. VS Code provides good default and most people don’t care about editor fluency. Which is why they keep using it.

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse