VSCode, as much as I don't personally use it: does have a completely free and open source version in vscodium: https://vscodium.com/
Isn't it better to consolidate efforts on a vscode fork in the event of hostile tactics by Microsoft?
OP is literally Gitlab admitting they can't build a competitive web editor.
1) It is a product that exists, maintenance is easier than building from scratch in this case.
2) a consolidated effort by many people in maintaining a fork will allow much more effort than gitlab alone can spend.
3) mindshare on how vscode works already exists externally, a new webIDE doesn't have the same level of developer mindshare anyway.
As a paying gitlab customer I'd rather their money be spent on things that actually matter; reimplementing open source tools does not matter.
Let Gitlab focus on git repositories, project management and devops. Everything else is just a pure waste of time.
Or they've just decided it's not a good use of their finite resources?
VSCode, as much as I don't personally use it: does have a completely free and open source version in vscodium: https://vscodium.com/
Isn't it better to consolidate efforts on a vscode fork in the event of hostile tactics by Microsoft?