most people like vs code and lots of companies have built on top of it so there must be some quality there that people like.

It's more that there isn't a single credible alternative. So, winning by default, not by merit.

	▲	cjbgkagh 5 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		But it didn’t win by default, it beat out the other alternatives, sublime and a GitHub editor (prior to acquisition). VS Code (Monaco at the time) was developed by a small team largely in secret to keep it safe from other MS departments so it’s really not like other MS software. It has been safe from meddling for a while there is a chance it’ll be a victim of its own success.
	▲	lovich 5 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		The editor itself, Monaco, is nice enough and I’ve built some browser based ides, with it. Clientele consisting of primarily data scientists seemed to enjoy it