... I actually like it most of the time. Not the annoying update message, but when I open a .rs file I actually do want the plugin for syntax highlighting. VSC makes getting such stuff wonderfully easy.
1. Yeah it's easy, but it's not much easier than searching and installing a package in Sublime Text. And when I'm using a tool I want to be focused on the work, I don't want to be distracted by what MS thinks I want to see when I open my editor. Yeah it only takes a second to dismiss these things, but all these little distractions pulling you out of flow add up. It's amazing how relaxing it is when you don't have that all the time.
2. I don't want to become dependent on it honestly. Like what if VSCode starts to go in a direction I don't like, and I want to change editors, but my workflow depends on all these plugins which I don't even know what they are or how they work because I just installed them mindlessly like a monkey pressing a button in a lab to get a treat.
3. It's part of this whole ethos where software has to be constantly evolving, and developers need to collect data on everything users do to optimize for whatever KPI MS cares about. This goes along with things like A/B testing UI changes, so maybe one day I open VS Code and the menu options are different because they are testing something out on me. Ostensibly that's for my benefit, but it costs me productivity when I am just trying to get some work done.
A text editor is a simple thing. Basically I just don't need any of this extra stuff on top for a tiny little benefit.
VS Code pops up three notification windows every time I open a .py despite me having closed them literally hundreds of times now.
Apparently it’s smarter than me, and just knows I need its plugins and system integrations despite a year of adamantly refusing.