Foresight Over Firefighting: Being Proactive in a Reactive World | Rootly's JJ Tang

**Andrew Zigler** (0:06)
Welcome to Dev Interrupted. I'm your host, Andrew Zigler.

**Ben Lloyd Pearson** (0:09)
And I'm your host, Ben Lloyd Pearson.

**Andrew Zigler** (0:12)
This week, we're talking about OpenAI's acquisition of Windsurf and a new competitor to Starlink's Satellite Internet. We're also discussing the growing divide between contributors and managers during AI adoption, and how folks like you and me can avoid skill atrophy. But Ben, we got to start by talking about Windsurf, right?

**Ben Lloyd Pearson** (0:31)
Yeah. I mean, as much as I identify with that skill atrophy in the age of AI, we can hold off on that one for a moment and talk about this big news of Windsurf.

**Andrew Zigler** (0:40)
Yeah. So it's been all over the news about OpenAI buying Windsurf for a $3 billion valuation. The Windsurf is a coding assistant tool. It's an IDE that allows a user to do agentic workflows to build software. This is commonly used in a lot of different environments right now by folks experimenting with AI. You may recognize it as a leading competitor to cursor. The deal which hasn't closed yet would be OpenAI's largest acquisition to date. And as you know, OpenAI is not shy about its acquisitions. In the past, it bought Search and Database Analytics startup Rockset. It's also tried to buy the leading agentic coding IDE cursor before in the past. So OpenAI making this move now acquiring Windsurf, getting a stake in the game for agentic AI encoding.
Kind of an exciting development in the space. Ben, what do you think about it?

**Ben Lloyd Pearson** (1:34)
You know, I'm happy to see competition in any tooling in general. I think it is one of the things that really sets American tech companies apart is just how competitive it is. This I really think is a simple one. OpenAI, they're just trying to build a moat and they have a lot of money. And in fact, I think this is their attempt to buy a moat rather than build it. As a matter of fact, specifically in the software development space. So you mentioned Cursor, that's obvious. They couldn't get Cursor to sell to them, so they went to the next one. Cursor being like the fastest growing company in history based on revenue. It's going to be some stiff competition, I think in both directions, you know? Neither one of these companies really has a strong moat yet. Even though I think we are getting to the stage now where the leaders are starting to sort of establish the norms of this space, you know?
When I, personally, when I think about agentic coding, I think about cursor rules and a lot of the features that they've built into their platform. And, you know, everyone's going to have their take on how that stuff should work. But right now, cursor is the one that's out there, sort of leading the definitions around all of this. But with that said, I've heard a lot of positive things about Windsurf. I'm going to have to check it out at some point. I know some people that have tried it and have really liked it, even people who know cursor. So, you know, it's just something interesting to check out. And I like that we have a lot of competition in this space.

**Andrew Zigler** (2:58)
Yeah, I totally agree with the competition is only create a better ecosystem of tools. I've actually tried out Windsurf. I had a lot of luck with it. I think it's a really nice tool. So I think that there's space for, you know, multiple players in this game to create a really great new future of development workspaces. So I'm excited to see what happens.

**Ben Lloyd Pearson** (3:15)
Yeah. And from surfing the wind here on Earth to surfing the solar winds up in space, let's talk about what Amazon has done this week.

**Andrew Zigler** (3:24)
Wow. What a transition. So let me launch this story into orbit for you. Amazon has launched its first Kuiper internet satellites, taking on Starlink in the satellite internet space. Kuiper, you know, you might read it as K-U-I-P-E-R.
It's a Dutch word related to copper. And it's the name that Amazon has picked to describe its new satellite internet network. In this space, you know, we all think of Starlink as the incumbent and has the predominant mind share. When people think about satellite internet, but Amazon is now taking on that space in that industry head on with their own offering. And Ben, have you had any experiences with satellite internet before?

**Ben Lloyd Pearson** (4:05)
Yeah, well, first of all, I'm very familiar with the word Kuiper because of my four year old who's obsessed with the solar systems. I do actually like the name, you know, for anyone who doesn't know Kuiper is where all the cool dwarf planets hang out. But, you know, personally, on one hand, I'm just hopeful that we're not headed towards the world in WALL-E, the animated movie where our atmosphere is just littered with space junk all over the place. I like found myself wondering today, when did we decide to just like let corporations fill up low earth orbit with all of these space boats? I don't remember that decision ever being made. But with that said, more data connectivity is a good thing over the long term, and rural areas really stand to benefit the most from this. Areas that have been left behind by a lot of the benefits of the internet age, whether that's in the developed world or even in the underdeveloped world. I've already mentioned my opinions on competition. I think competition is good for services like this. Within some reason, there should probably be some regulations over the use of low earth orbit. But I've also found myself wondering with all the recent antitrust things that have been coming down the pipeline specifically in the US federal courts, how long until Amazon becomes under the microscope for the seemingly vertical monopoly that they're beginning to create?