It is a platform play, where the platform increasingly becomes incompatible with the open core stuff.
The value of a lot of software comes from interoperability, not from the code itself.
For instance, try running AOSP and 100% open source system libraries on your android phone for a month. You will find that you cannot perform basic financial transactions, like paying for parking, or hailing an uber/lyft, fast-charge your car, attend concerts without paying an extra fee, etc, etc.
I don’t even want my phone to support any of the above crap, but I don’t get to dictate how the US economy is structured, so I have no choice but to need all that stuff to work.
What used to be useful extras are now considered essentials (see how many on this thread say they need the SSH, Docker or WSL extensions and can't use VSCodium).
Plus they're now moving Python, .NET and other specific extensions towards closed source. Yeah, you can use the open source versions, but they don't have mindshare any more so source code written with one might not navigate/display as well with the other.
Also, new features only land when MS has a closed source idea that can use it, and are locked to MS extensions only. Innovation for me, not for thee. (Copilot/Continue on Codespaces/Live Share/VS Code Web/...)
"Plus they're now moving Python, .NET and other specific extensions towards closed source."
They are also adding Python support to Excel, which means that the layman now has a intuitive way to use a Python function to plot graphs inside their favorite workbook.
In other words, now you no longer need those extra machine learning Python devs, when Bob the accountant can plot fancy graphs for you.
Talk about extending an open source project just to incorporate it into the Borg that is closed-source Excel.
