In a conversation with Zed's co-founders Nathan, Max, and Antonio, the team explores the philosophy behind their code editor, Zed, which seeks to balance the power of an IDE with the speed and minimalism of an editor. They aim to integrate the best features of both, such as performance and collaboration, while maintaining simplicity and avoiding the bloat associated with traditional IDEs. The discussion highlights the evolving landscape of code editors, facilitated by language server protocols and tools like tree-sitter, which blur the lines between editors and IDEs. The founders emphasize a commitment to scriptability and extensibility, allowing users to customize their experience without compromising performance. They acknowledge the potential challenges of maintaining a streamlined user interface amidst growing functionality, underscoring the importance of careful design and execution. The team is open to innovation and standards, balancing user-friendly features with a vision for a cohesive, high-performance product.