I was talking to my manager the other day, discussing the languages we are using at $dayjob. He kind of offhandedly said that he thinks TypeScript is a temporary fad and soon everything will go back to using JavaScript. He doesn’t like that it’s made by Microsoft either.

I’m not a frontend developer so I don’t really know, but my general impression is that everything is moving more and more towards TypeScript, not away from it. But maybe I’m wrong?

Does anyone who actually works with TypeScript have any impression about this?

  • @FooBarrington
    7•8 months ago

    I honestly think this is fearmongering. Yes, Microsoft is a shitty company that has done shitty things, but:

    • the Typescript repo is licensed with Apache 2.0, which means the community can always fork it if they do bad/evil stuff
    • there are competing type checkers in the works, which would fully remove any Microsoft influence from a developer using Typescript
    • there already are competing compilers which are broadly used

    The only real option they have to do what you’re describing is to implement new features that could be used for monetizing it - there would be some inertia regarding community forks. But even then I can’t come up with any monetization model that could make sense. Do you have a specific example in mind?

    • Adderbox76English
      -2•8 months ago

      I hope you’re right. But my trust level for corporations is somewhere between 0 and 0.1