AWS backs Open VSX as Rust survey shows VS Code decline

The Open VSX registry, used for installing extensions in editors compatible with Visual Studio Code (VS Code), will run on Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure in Europe as part of a "strategic investment" from the cloud giant.

Open VSX is operated by the Eclipse Foundation, and provides extensions unencumbered by the restriction Microsoft places on the VS Code marketplace that "alternative products including those built on a fork of the Code-OSS Repository, are not permitted to access the Visual Studio Marketplace." Microsoft cites security and compatibility as reasons, and there is no business case to "run a full-scale global service for everyone to use," in the words of Chris Dias, who was head of product for VS Code at the time.

The Open VSX project was started by GitPod (now Ona) in early 2020 as a vendor-neutral registry for use by Code-OSS forks, including VSCodium and Theia. The number of ...