Comment by timr

2 days ago

> There is Github Copilot, the coding autocomplete tool.

No, there is Github Copilot, the AI agent tool that also has autocomplete, and a chat UI.

I understand your point about naming, but it's always helpful to know what the products do.

26 comments

timr

Reply
mgkimsal  2 days ago

> No, there is Github Copilot, the AI agent tool that also has autocomplete, and a chat UI.

When it came out, Github Copilot was an autocomplete tool. That's it. That may be what the OP was originally using. That's what I used... 2 years ago. That they change the capabilities but don't change the name, yet change names on services that don't change capabilities further illustrates the OP's point, I would say.

  • HarHarVeryFunny  2 days ago

    To be fair, Github Copilot (itself a horrible name) has followed the same arc as Cursor, from AI-enhanced editor with smart autocomplete, to more of an IDE that now supports agentic "vibe coding" and "vibe editing" as well.

    I do agree that conceptually there is a big difference between an editor, even with smart autocomplete, and an agentic coding tool, as typified by Claude Code and other CLI tools, where there is not necessarily any editor involved at all.

  • georgeven  2 days ago

    It was actually nearly 5 years ago!

    • mgkimsal  11 hours ago

      Thanks... 2 years felt a bit too recent. I think I was trialing copilot in late 2022, and then got turned on to ... codeium/windsurf in late 2023. The years are merging together now. :/

  • timr  2 days ago

    That's silly. Gmail is a wildly different product than it was when it launched, but I guess it doesn't count since the name is the same?

    Microsoft may or may not have a "problem" with naming, but if you're going to criticize a product, it's always a good starting place to know what you're criticizing.

jacquesm  2 days ago

GPs point is that it is confusing, I guess point well made?

  • timr  2 days ago

    Only if the naming confusion kept them from actually bothering to understand what the product is?

    • kemotep  2 days ago

      The confusion is when I say “I have a terrible time using Copilot, I don’t recommend using it” and someone chimes in with how great their experience with Github Copilot is, a completely different product and how I must be “holding it wrong” when that is not the same Copilot. That Microsoft has like 5 different products all using Copilot in the name, even people in this very comment section are only saying “Copilot” so it is hard to know what product they are talking about!

      2 replies →

    • nananana9  2 days ago

      Naming confusion is a pretty good predictor that it's not worth understanding what the product is.

mirekrusin  2 days ago

...it gets better:

GitHub Copilot is a service, you can buy subscription from here https://github.com/features/copilot.

GitHub Copilot is available from website https://github.com/copilot together with services like Spark (not available from other places), Spaces, Agents etc.

GitHub Copilot is VSCode extension which you can download at https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=GitHub.c... and use from VSCode.

New version has native "Claude Code" integration for Anthropic models served via GitHub Copilot.

You can also use your own ie. local llama.cpp based provider (if your github copilot subscription has it enabled / allows it at enterprise level).

Github Copilot CLI is available for download here https://github.com/features/copilot/cli and it's command line interface.

Copilot for Pull Requests https://githubnext.com/projects/copilot-for-pull-requests

Copilot Next Edit Suggestion https://githubnext.com/projects/copilot-next-edit-suggestion...

Copilot Workspace https://githubnext.com/projects/copilot-workspace/

Copilot for Docs https://githubnext.com/projects/copilot-for-docs/

Copilot Completions CLI https://githubnext.com/projects/copilot-completions-cli/

Copilot Voice https://githubnext.com/projects/copilot-voice/

GitHub Copilot Radar https://githubnext.com/projects/copilot-radar/

Copilot View https://githubnext.com/projects/copilot-view/

Copilot Labs https://githubnext.com/projects/copilot-labs/

This list doesn't include project names without Copilot in them like "Spark" or "Testpilot" https://githubnext.com/projects/testpilot etc.

  • eulers_secret  2 days ago

    Since we're talking about GitHub Copilot I'll lodge my biggest complaint about it here! The context window is stuck at 128k for all models (except maybe Codex): https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/issues/264153 and https://github.com/anomalyco/opencode/issues/5993

    This absolutely sucks, especially since tool calling uses tokens really really fast sometimes. Feels like a not-so-gentle nudge to using their 'official' tooling (read: vscode); even though there was a recent announcement about how GHCP works with opencode: https://github.blog/changelog/2026-01-16-github-copilot-now-...

    No mention of it being severely gimped by the context limit in that press release, of course (tbf, why would they lol).

    However, if you go back to aider, 128K tokens is a lot, same with web chat... not a total killer, but I wouldn't spend my money on that particular service with there being better options!

    • perryh2  2 days ago

      This is the first time I've read about this. Thank you. I never noticed because OpenCode just shows you the context window usage as a %.

  • Octoth0rpe  2 days ago

    I'm currently using GitHub copilot via Zed and tbh I have no idea which of these this relates to. Perhaps a combination of

    > GitHub Copilot is a service

    and maybe, the api behind

    > GitHub Copilot is VSCode extension

    ???

    What an absolute mess.