Short answer from me is a Mac desktop is always more smooth than a Linux over the wire.

Since the Web editor of Cirru is ready I started programming with Chrome and iTerm2. So I found there might be a chance I can start the Web editor on an Ubuntu and run commands with Mosh. I was quite interesting actually. But for many times I still think it's smoother to run a local iTerm than starting new tabs for Mosh processes. And Sublime Text is always faster when I need to view files other than *.cirru. It's always faster to edit locally.

As others have stated, cloud "IDEs" are a long ways off from matching features found on their desktop counterparts. I currently favor RubyMine in my development, which is so powerful its only downside is missing its features when having to use anything else.

I remember the days of Visual Basic 6, and I don't think there's any cloud IDE today that could even match that old relic, let alone modern IDEs..

That said, a cloud IDE is very compelling to me (see my downside on RubyMine), so I can't wait for browsers to be powerful enough to offer something akin.

Currently, I'm abroad with less than reliable internet, so I'm developing locally. However, at home, I develop almost exclusively in Cloud 9, and I love it. I even keep an instance installed and running on my personal, in-home server so I can use it for quick edits and easy access to a console.

I prefer to be able to work whenever I'm on the run, whether it be an airplane, bus or train. That gives itself that I need to have everything I need offline.

Not only do I have my IDE, VM and projects on my computer, I also sync all my necessary documentation every day.

• Clouds aren't available offline.
• Not everyone hosts in the cloud.
• Apple is the only hardware which legally runs OSX, therefore if you're ever developing a cross-platform something you need Apple hardware.
• Apple is high quality hardware with high quality in-person in-store support and comes with OSX by default.
• OSX is a user-friendly nix which helps if you don't know much about nix.
• Windows is developer unfriendly unless you're developing Microsoft products.

I could go on but I'm getting bored. Personally I run Linux. I used to run Windows but got tired of how developer unfriendly it was. I debated running OSX but I can't stand Apple's "we know better than you do" stance on software or it's walled garden.

I'd jumped on Koding.io when it started and was giving out some 5 GB for referrals. Soon the initial enthusiasm faded when the VM was not reliable, would switch off while programming and generally be ultra slow.

Checked back again after seeing your post. It still seems buggy (billing options won't show up, PATH variables not being set for some new packages to name a few). Haven't tried the other two you mentioned.

And if you are using containers, whether you use Ubuntu or Mac, there is hardly any difference. Only thing you might be sacrificing is the ability of being able to use any machine with a browser to do your work.

Also many of us work with other desktop software like Photoshop, Illustrator etc during our development process which might be a pain to sync with the VMs during testing.

But you have me interested in cloud IDEs again. Have you faced any issues using c9.io? Would you recommend a complete switch to a cloud IDE?

I believe that some solutions are platform specific with its specific requirements, think developing iOS apps which is only possible on OS X. Besides that you have the performance factor as @JanVladimirMostert points out and also every developer has personal workflow and preference on what tools to use and how to use them, a Cloud IDE wouldn't provide such flexibility.

Developing inside a web application running on someone's server is super slow. Give me a proper PC / Mac and I'll run circles around those online IDEs