I use both Sublime and Vscode every day for different things. Sublime is just so fast and responsive all the time, while vscode can get annoying slow and laggy, often because of all the many plugins I have running. If I just need simple text file editing with syntax highlighting, say while editing a markdown file, Sublime is just snappier. For actual coding VScode is much better because of all the IDE features.
I like VSCode's feature where it doesn't constantly bitch and moan about buying a license. Like cmon, there's billions of text editors to pick from, it would be like paying for breathing air or worse, for winrar.
Maybe I'm a sucker, but I bought a license for Sublime in like 2009 and re-upped for a later version. I also actually bought WinRAR from Eugene. It's good to support dedicated devs who make high quality tools that you use all the time.
The line between dedication and delusion is apparently pretty blurry. One can't seriously expect to profit with closed software in a space where free and open alternatives are the norm. VSCode is open source, 7-Zip is open source, they are both objectively better in every way. If anything I would rather support those by contributing directly.
Besides absurd levels of market saturation, code editors are a complement to software, just like libraries and frameworks, and we benefit most as a society by keeping tools open. Imagine having to pay a monthly subscription for a json lib. I find the entire concept ridiculous.
That wasn't the case in 2009. And yeah, I do use 7zip mostly now, but it was a different story back then and WinRar was really fast and had really great compression and features. And who cares, it was like $20 or something.
Yeah, screw devs for making a industry-renowned product and wanting to be able to eat food or pay the rent for having made that thing, right?!
The pricing on Sublime Text is a steal for what value a frequent user of it derives from it. And they even let you use it forever with just a nag screen if you still refuse to, or can't afford to, pay that fee, unlike a SaaS product which would just lock you out.
I can totally get the high school student not paying for Sublime because they can't, but IMO no industry professional has any legs to stand on for using ST but refusing to pay for it on principle.
