Three prevalent themes in the discussion
1. Sublime Text’s speed and simplicity keep it relevant
Many commenters praise Sublime Text for being fast, lightweight, and capable of handling large files without the bloat they see in newer editors.
- “I used sublime text over so many years. Still find it to be a marvel when it comes to large text files, and how well it still handles them” – asabla
- “I still don't see a point in switching from Sublime to VS Code… Sublime does everything I need it to do and it does it faster and cleaner and just better than the alternatives.” – cwnyth
- “At this point the main advantage VS Code has is its ecosystem… most of its plugins are outdated / haven't been updated in five years.” – Cthulhu_
- “I mean… they still make sublime text. Works great.” – mangecoeur
2. Good defaults matter as much as configurability
A recurring point is that powerful editors (especially Emacs/Vim) can deter newcomers when their out‑of‑the‑box experience is poor; solid defaults lower the barrier to entry.
- “In general, I find that good defaults are rather undervalued and downplayed in the FOSS world. Configurability is great but without good defaults it can also be a liability.” – cosmic_cheese
- “How many years did it take Debian to activate syntax highlighting for nano? Is the bash history still very short? So many low hanging fruits.” – Mashimo
- “The terribleness of emacs defaults is over done… it's just what you get used to.” – kodoman
- “Defaults really shouldn't change. Each time I upgrade my OS, I get a new version of vim, and have to add more” – iso1631
3. Text editing is seen as a solved problem; new tools feel like reinvention
Several participants argue that the core problem of editing text has already been solved (by vim, Emacs, etc.) and that many modern editors merely re‑package existing ideas.
- “I don't understand why everyone just switches to these random tools. Text editing is a solved problem. Most of the supposed advantages of these tools is just a configuration of vim or emacs.” – anon291
- “Text editing is a solved problem.” – self_awareness
- “>Text editing is a solved problem. I have this sentence so much.” – not-so-darkstar
- “Because very few people actually care about the things that emacs has to offer. Tools like VS Code do the job well enough for the majority of people…” – kstenerud