There are a couple of interesting code editors in the works which might have the potential to challenge Visual Studio Code. Zed, is one of them, built by the creators of Atom, focused on performance and feature-rich at the same time.
It offers features like Vim mode, integrated terminal, real-time collaboration, and more.
While we already listed Zed as one of the most impressive upcoming code editors, it was not open-source, until now.
They finally decided to open source the entire project, with different licenses associated with its editor, server-side, and the UI.
Zed: From the Makers of Atom and Tree-sitter
If you are aware of Atom code editor (now defunct) or tree-sitter, you already know that Zed code editor can be your next remarkable code editor.
Unfortunately, it is not available for Linux at the moment. You can download it for macOS. Of course, with its source-code now on GitHub, the community can help make a binary available for Linux as well.
Regarding the open-source licenses, it is GPL for the editor, AGPL for server-side components, and Apache 2 for the UI.
In addition to the announcement to open-source the project, they also unveiled a neat little feature called "Zed Channels". With Zed Channels, you can share a link, and write code together in real time. So, it should make collaboration seamless.
The developers also revealed that they will be monetizing features like Zed Channels and other AI-powered functionalities for a sustainable business model in the near future.
As of now, the new features will be free for everyone.
Moreover, they may continue offering proprietary products for commercial/enterprise use-cases. It could be something like "Zed Pro" for businesses, a generic guess from my side 😉
Though, they intend that the proprietary code will be a tiny fraction, if at all.
Zed aims to be a better code editor for everyone and with open-sourcing the project, they believe the community contributions can help them achieve the 1.0 milestone release swiftly.
You can explore all about the code editor on its official website and the documentation.
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