Microsoft Goes All-In on Open Source at Build 2025

At this year's Build 2025 conference, Microsoft made some big moves in the open-source world, releasing several key tools and applications—including a brand-new command-line text editor for Windows called Edit.

Why Open Source? It’s Not Just About Money

While open-sourcing software doesn’t directly generate revenue for Microsoft, it serves as a powerful form of market research—and a clever way to funnel users toward paid products. By engaging with the open-source community, Microsoft gains real-world feedback, feature requests, and insights into where developers want the platform to go next.

Meet "Edit": A New Default CLI Text Editor for Windows

Starting this summer, Edit will be installed by default for Windows Insiders. The goal? To help developers stay in their workflow without constantly switching between apps.

• Just type edit in the command line to open and modify files instantly.
• No more jumping to Notepad or VS Code for quick edits—everything happens right in the terminal.

Microsoft says this is all about reducing friction and keeping developers in their flow state.

GitHub Copilot in VS Code Goes Open Source

In another major move, Microsoft announced that GitHub Copilot’s AI-powered coding assistant will soon be open-sourced within VS Code.

• Over the next few months, Copilot’s features will migrate to the VS Code open-source repository.
• This means developers can modify, extend, and contribute to the AI coding assistant’s functionality.

Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) Joins the Open-Source Party

Finally, Microsoft is open-sourcing WSL, the tool that lets Windows users run a full Linux environment natively.

• Developers will now be able to access and modify WSL’s source code.
• This opens the door for custom builds, optimizations, and niche use cases that weren’t possible before.

The Bigger Picture

Microsoft’s latest open-source push isn’t just about goodwill—it’s a strategic play to:
✔ Engage developers more deeply with Microsoft’s ecosystem.
✔ Gather insights on real-world usage and pain points.
✔ Drive adoption of premium services like GitHub Copilot Pro and Azure.

By giving developers more control and transparency, Microsoft is betting that they’ll stick around—and maybe even upgrade to paid offerings down the line.

What do you think? Is this a win for developers, or just another way for Microsoft to keep users locked into its ecosystem? Let us know in the comments! 🚀