The one degree angle, while a little unusual, isn't what blows my mind. It's the disappearance after a small scroll. That's enough to make you think you were imagining things, might need to go to the eye doctor, etc...

Not sure which version of VSCode you think the new UI is a clone of, but I don't really see it. The tool buttons? VS has always had those, thought they had text by default. Tabs? VS has those too. Bottom bar? VS also. In fact, Rider looks like all the other Jetbrains IDEs - except Fleet, which is actually their VS Code competitor.

I agree. Definitely pressure from VSCode. I did a number of .NET projects with VSCode. It's indeed very good.

They may mean that they're locked into continuing the subscription to keep getting updates because if you have a break then you start at the high price again.

Whenever you don't renew you get whatever version was out when you last renewed in perpetuity which is great. But if you decide you don't want it this year, but in two years you do, now you're back at the $289 price. Though if you pay $289 every other year you're still coming out ahead compared to an annual subscription so I don't know what the issue is.

That’s of course the way they would try to frame it positively… but imagine it any of your other subscriptions did the same? Once you’ve been subscribed, it puts a much higher cost on unsubscribing, especially if you aren’t using it but think you might need it again at some point in the future.

If anything, not having AI is a bonus in my book.

Fair enough, but I think that will be a minority view going forward; it has already become a core functionality across the industry, and that is what Jetbrains et al have to contend with.