Open Source 'Eclipse Theia IDE' Exits Beta to Challenge Visual Studio Code

Used this a few years ago in early stages before VS code remote was a thing. It's very useful to add some interface extensibility components into VS Code's framework. I suspect microsoft made some intentional design decision to make this harder to do in VS code's apis, totally eschewing any real editor extensibility in favor of a "apps in the editor, not extending the editor" design vs Atom's much more open ended allowance for modifications. For example, if you wanted to make a form builder in VS code for VS code extensions - that would not be usable outside of the Webview tab functionality without modifying the editor source. Glad eclipse foundation recognized this and is providing some groundwork to make a real IDE out of VS code. Theia was also the first to provide support for running vscode-as-a-platform and run via web browser, at least support that was functional and working.

Is there actually any point in using it? My initial thought was they would allow a more “atom” approach while still keeping all the vscode functionality.

But it looks like it’s aimed more for “building your own IDE” without having to start from scratch, feels just like the old eclipse.

Maybe I’m missing something but why would anyone bother using this?

Since this seems otherwise unrelated to the desktop Eclipse IDE, does anyone have positive feelings about the Eclipse brand? Granted I last used it about 20 years ago, but it was a less than positive experience.

Related:

Theia: Cloud and Desktop IDE - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22792258 - April 2020 (183 comments)

Eclipse Theia 1.0 – Open-Source Alternative to Visual Studio Code - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22738607 - March 2020 (147 comments)

Theia: A cloud and desktop IDE framework implemented in TypeScript - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19466001 - March 2019 (12 comments)

Theia – One IDE for Desktop and Cloud - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14687858 - July 2017 (58 comments)

I've been following Theia for years (hi GitPod people), though mostly lost interest when vscode started being browser accessible, and back when they were using that old UI stack.

But I'm confused, how does this compare with code-server, or openvscode-server?

I use the latter in a web browser to do fully remote dev on my beefy machine hooked up to Google Fiber.

It kind of seems like this isn't something I need to consider, unless I wanted to ship my own custom white-labeled IDE. (Which... Nah, and why?)

Used this recently and liked it. I don't use VS Code but I see how this is a valuable addition to the ecosystem. Not only does it provide an actually open alternative independent from Microsoft, the project has produced open-vsx.org as an open registry for VS Code + Theia compatible extensions.

Also, the main focus of Theia (and Eclipse in general) is to provide a framework/base for creating a custom IDE product, not necessarily to provide a working IDE out of the box. This means e.g. companies providing custom IDEs for their embedded platforms can now use a more modern VS Code style base instead of the ancient Eclipse desktop editors.

Can people stop using electron for editors? This is why software quality is dropping. People are ok with shoddy slow bloated apps as their primary editing interface.

For me at least, tree-sitter + LSP support is a must in any editor/IDE. Recent entrants like Zed are setting a very high bar along with really quite stellar updates to neovim and emacs in the form of LazyVim, Doom/Spacemacs etc.

Glad to see more competition in the space.

They really need to change the name to something else. I don't know a single person that has used Eclipse in the past and thought that it was a good IDE. I think most of us had no choice but to use it back when we did and just struggled through it.

Eclipse Theia IDE is to Eclipse as Visual Studio Code is to Visual Studio?

I think the naming is much less interesting/important than the idea, but lots of folks seem only interested in whether the name is good or bad. In my experience, a good project tends to eventually live by a good name, and the early focus should be on the outcome. It looks to me like the folks behind this project know exactly what they’re doing.

I downloaded it to try. It's very slow. Slow to open, slow to open a project, slow to open files, slow to scroll files. Highlighting a small code file visible went down the file. The go to file command only showed files I'd already opened rather than all project files, probably because all files would be too slow.

What does this do that VS Codium does not? Why did it take seven years of work?

Interesting. What I hate about Vs code is that Microsoft limits all their good add-ons from running on the open source version. It's really annoying because there is no official version on my platform. Not that I'd willingly install MS spyware anyway. But the open-source version, ok.

It's typical Microsoft. Even when they pretend to do something good there's always a catch and an agenda.

On the other hand, 'Eclipse' gives me nightmares when it comes to IDEs.

I'm so annoyed at the fact that there is almost no more competition in the field with everyone using and relying on the same core (Monaco) under Microsoft control.

In addition, the editor is ok but not particularly good. Sadly a lot of users are liking it because they never really experience something different.

Even if not perfect, I would recommend Kate and kdevelop that are incredible once you know how to use them

Collaboration capabilities are a high rank priority for me. After years of not really getting anywhere, there's been some promising movement this year, but still in long open draft form. https://github.com/eclipse-theia/theia/issues/2842

That's looks pretty cool. I'll try replacing VS Code with it and see how it works for me.

With VSC, the only extensions are those MS builds API's for. It's hub and spoke integration, for a few big leaders and many tiny followers.

With Eclipse (Theia or otherwise), it's fully open, with a large number of medium-sized groups. There's much more flexibility, but more opportunity for integration trouble (and more appreciation for those who do it right).

The ecosystem has benefited from Java's open-sourcing and becoming the default organization e.g., for jakarta, but it never really recovered from the loss of IBM as the big dog driving enterprise (or the transition to Eclipse 4 style UI's).

Looks like VS Code. They copied the bad design.

First thing I thought is "damn, that looks a lot like vscode"

Finally. VScode is a landing zone for malicious extensions.

Get it into the Debian repos and I'll try it. If it's a good replacement for vscode, getting it into the major distros will get them a massive userbase in a month. Most people don't want to install MS garbage on their computer, and they are willing to take a mild quality hit in order to avoid it.

Otherwise I'm not messing with something likely to disappear randomly. I value my workflow.

On the Eclipse Theia IDE download page [0] it still says:

>NOTE: The Eclipse Theia IDE is currently in beta.

Does "exits beta" mean that it will at some point in the future exit the beta? I understood it to mean that it is out of beta today.

[0]: https://theia-ide.org/#theiaidedownload

Great, another Electron based "desktop" app... :-/

Nope. Nope. Nope. There is literally no fond memory I’ve ever had of anything relating to eclipse.

Eclipse always left me with the impression that it was more interested in architecting generically extensible platforms and protocols moreso than a nice, clean, user ready tool with all the kinks worked out. I was so scarred from Eclipse and OSGI and Equinox and xml manifest files and configurations and project import that never worked properly, that I never touched anything but vim for a whole decade, until first VSCode and then IntelliJ eventually won me back over by being /so/ incredibly polished that almost everything worked on the first try and with no configuration. Judging by the other comments here, I'm not alone in thinking that that impression hasn't gone away, and they aren't helping it now. From the article:

> Note that Eclipse Theia IDE is a separate component from the overall Theia project's related Eclipse Theia Platform, used to build IDEs and tools based on modern web technologies.

So you got the Theia project, the Eclipse Theia Platform, and the Eclipse Theia IDE, all fully separate things. "Ah" they will say, "what's so hard to understand? It's a project that works on an IDE development platform under the larger Eclipse umbrella, with which we built an IDE, but of course it has nothing to do with the original Eclipse IDE". None of which makes me want to use it or means anything to me.

When you go to https://theia-ide.org/ the big text says:

> An Open, Flexible and Extensible Platform to efficiently develop and deliver Cloud & Desktop IDEs and tools with modern web technologies.

Dear god, please put that stuff on theia-platform.org or something instead, and market the platform separately. I know you're proud of it, but stop telling me about it please, I'm not trying to develop IDEs, which is an extremely narrow niche. "It can host VS Code extensions" and "vendor-neutral" is pretty much the only notable things from my POV - which is a perfectly great selling point, mind you - and they bury those below the fold.

There's a reason you want this: the more people use Theia, the more people will choose to use it as an extension platform. Otherwise it's likelier to go the way of the original Eclipse IDE (whose homepage notably still doesn't say "blazing fast", "rock solid" and "works out of the box" but has room for a zillion other things like "preferences page for Generic Text Editor" and "jar viewer").

There's also a reason why almost every editor website starts with massive screenshots of the tool itself, because people want to be able to imagine what it would be like to use a new tool before taking the big step to actually try. This is marketing 101. I wish they'd just flat out copy a competitor's page, and bill themselves as "everything you get from VSCode, but actually extensible and actually open source. By the way, look at the cool IDEs other people built on top of this, if you want to do that too, check out theia platform".

It could be great, but I'm just seeing so much self sabotage, it makes me sad.

Is Theia supposed to replace Eclipse IDE?

What's the point here?

So it's another reskined VS Code.

i still have nightmares of waiting for eclipse to load

Challenge in terms of having a stupid name? If yes, then they are succeeding.