Microsoft vs Cursor
Microsoft vs. Cursor - The "feature mimicry" and "lockout" debates that are shaking up the [OSS ecosystem kinopee_ai Microsoft has not been shy, starting with the whole Cursor multi-file editing feature last fall, and the agent even went so far as to name the mode! It is very similar to Mac OS cloning. Happy that they created a free plan and got more registrations, now they are eliminating forked groups from the marketplace.
You seem to have forgotten the history of being criticized as an "Evil" company.
nuits_jp I was curious, so I looked into it, but isn't it against the terms and conditions for Cursor to use the extended marketplace directly? [Microsoft Visual Studio Marketplace and NuGet.org
I think Cursor is not in a position to say that, since they forked OSS in the first place, developed it in close cooperation, made huge profits, and did not give anything back to OSS.
o3.icon
Organize the issues in 5 lines.
1.Cursor's prior function.
VS Code fork Cursor has been growing rapidly since 2024, selling "AI Agents (Composer/Agent Mode)" and multi-file simultaneous editing.
2.Microsoft follows suit and even the name is similar.
In April 2025, Agent Mode of the same name and bulk editing functionality is officially implemented in GitHub Copilot, and developers point out that the UI and vocabulary is very similar to Cursor.
3.Prohibition of Marketplace use effectively shutting them out.
Shortly after, Microsoft added a "Cannot work with anything but VS Code" flag to the official extension.
4.opposing arguments.
- Microsoft defense: The terms and conditions have been in place for some time, and Cursor has been violating them and taking over the official Marketplace.
- Cursor Criticism]: Based on OSS (VS Code MIT), but the improved parts are closed, expensive and SaaS, and there is little return to the community.
5.Evaluation on OSS culture.
Microsoft: tendency to contain and enclose forks with the dominance of its huge platform.
Cursor: Legal under the license, but violates the terms and gives the impression of a "free ride".
Conclusion: Neither is an ideal OSS citizen, and users are at a stage where they are seeking the enrichment of open alternative ecosystems such as Open VSX.
My Thoughts
This is a typical example of the gap between the commercial judgment of a company and the spirit of OSS. On the other hand, Cursor also has a weak point of "OSS use → closed profit making → disregard of terms and conditions. We believe that it is in the best interest of developers as a whole if both camps strengthen their cooperative stance with the community and come to a compromise so that extended APIs and markets can interoperate under open standards.
---
This page is auto-translated from /nishio/Microsoft vs Cursor using DeepL. If you looks something interesting but the auto-translated English is not good enough to understand it, feel free to let me know at @nishio_en. I'm very happy to spread my thought to non-Japanese readers.