this post was submitted on 09 Jul 2025
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Big brain tech dude got yet another clueless take over at HackerNews etc? Here's the place to vent. Orange site, VC foolishness, all welcome.

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[–] Architeuthis@awful.systems 2 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

Also Microsoft spontaneously deciding that they will just turn vscode into free cursor can't be helping their prospects.

[–] HedyL@awful.systems 18 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

I don't understand. Everybody keeps telling me that LLMs are easily capable of replacing pretty much every software developer on this planet. And now they complain that $71 a day (or even $200 a month) is too much for such amazing tech? /s

[–] momo@social.linux.pizza 5 points 17 hours ago

@HedyL
I guess it was never about the software developers and what they do. It's just about saving money.
@dgerard

[–] TinyTimmyTokyo@awful.systems 20 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Not gonna lie, it's fun reading those reddit posts from vibe coders, squealing like stuck pigs because their heavily subsidized code extruder stopped working.

[–] dgerard@awful.systems 13 points 17 hours ago

it's near as joyous as the tesla subs

[–] nightsky@awful.systems 9 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

From this link in the article:

Cursor uses a combination of our custom models, as well as models from providers like OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and xAI. [...] Auto automatically routes to different frontier models based on capacity.

Uhm, since I don't use any of this crap... can someone explain what Cursor actually does? I mean... when it's using an "external model", I assume that means they just use OpenAI/Anthropic/etc as a backend service? (Which means even with the current price increase it is indirectly still heavily subsidized...) What service does Cursor even provide then? Do they just prepend user prompts with some unhinged garbage and then send it off to OpenAI etc? Why are people paying for it.. is it only for some fancy editor integration so it sends off/reads back the code as needed?

[–] Architeuthis@awful.systems 8 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (1 children)

Why are people paying for it… is it only for some fancy editor integration so it sends off/reads back the code as needed?

Even the vscode socials are taking the piss:

($10 is the copilot subscription apparently)

[–] bigfondue@lemmy.world 5 points 14 hours ago (2 children)

It really irks me when people put the dollar sign after the number.

[–] V0ldek@awful.systems 8 points 6 hours ago

It's a stupid thing that

  • exists only in English as far as I know, every other language puts it after the number,
  • is not used consistently (since you still write 25¢ and not ¢25),
  • doesn't follow the way you read it (it's "five dollars" not "dollar five").

It's one of those places where yes, the spelling rules say otherwise, but the rule is fucking stupid so anarchy it is.

I'm more irked by "less", the noun there is dollars so it should be "fewer"...

[–] uhmbah@lemmy.ca 4 points 7 hours ago

Tell that to French Canadians. This is the standard in Québec.

[–] Seminar2250@awful.systems 4 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

Why are people paying for it… is it only for some fancy editor integration so it sends off/reads back the code as needed?

from what i understand, having had a promptfondling former friend try to sell me on it, is that it is just LLM-autocomplete for code, so yeah the editor integration

my best attempt at emulating it:

def what_was_that_sorting_algorithm_called_again(array, length_because_i_dont_know_python_semantics_so_i_use_cursor):
    if ... # [here, i guess it would suggest something stupid like checking if the array is already sorted]

edit: that is, i don't think this can be done directly through the LLMs they plug into. but idk, i haven't touched any of these since 2023

[–] BlueMonday1984@awful.systems 20 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

The users who choose Cursor are hardcore vibe addicts. They are tech incompetents who somehow BSed their way into a developer job. They cannot code without a vibe coding bot. I compared chatbots to gambling and cocaine before, and Cursor fans are the most abject gutter krokodil addicts.

They're also easily comparable to psychics in how they con people, and of course there's all the reports of them crippling critical thinking and generally making you stupider.

So, these things are essentially brainrot-as-a-service.

[–] bruhbeans@lemmy.ml 15 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

My job gave us all Cursor licenses and pushed the app to our laptops. It was defaulted to "Max" mode which the app describes as "Enables maximum content windows. For advanced users that are cost insensitive." Not sure if that's the Cursor default or how our desktop people set it, curious what other users see. It's the second drop-down from the left in the chat pane.

[–] dgerard@awful.systems 18 points 22 hours ago

don't forget to press the button lots! bet they're using it as a metric!

"yeah tried it real hard like you said boss. all its ideas were bad and i rejected them, but it'll get there! stand strong! diamond hands!"

[–] fubarx@lemmy.world 1 points 12 hours ago

Just got a bill for "extra" cursor fees. This is on top of Cursor Pro as well as paid Claude and ChatGPT plans.

Guessing they're going to try to move everyone up to enterprise so they can maximize revenues. It was a fun ride while it lasted.