Gitpod Opens Up VS Code Browser Support with Open-Source Project
Gitpod has released an open-source project called OpenVSCode Server, which allows developers to run upstream and stable Visual Studio Code in a browser. This move is seen as a response to Microsoft's decision not to publish the source code used for GitHub Codespaces.
The OpenVSCode Server implementation was originally created by Gitpod for their automated development environments. The company received requests from multiple large organizations and individual developers who wanted to adopt this approach in their own products and workflows.
Gitpod's CEO, Sven Efftinge, stated that the goal of open-sourcing OpenVSCode Server is to eliminate the need for bad forks of VS Code that introduce unnecessary complexity. He also hopes that it will provide a straightforward upgrade path and low-maintenance effort.