Cursor’s problem isn't just Cursor's problem (News)

August 18, 2025

7 min episode · 2 min read

Episode

7 min

Read time

2 min

AI-Generated Summary

Published Dec 25, 2025

Key Takeaways

✓AI tool economics: Fixed subscription revenue with variable AI costs creates unsustainable business models. Companies must price based on usage intensity, not unlimited access, to survive long-term.
✓Productivity systems: Plain text files outperform complex to-do apps like Notion, Todoist, and OmniFocus. Users spend more time managing elaborate systems than completing actual work tasks.
✓Local AI development: Combining Ollama for models, Assistant UI for interface, Apple's container tool for sandboxed VMs, and Code Runner enables fully offline AI workspaces without cloud dependencies.

What It Covers

Cursor's unsustainable pricing model reveals broader issues with VC-backed developer tools that offer unlimited usage while paying variable AI model costs to OpenAI and Anthropic.

Key Questions Answered

•AI tool economics: Fixed subscription revenue with variable AI costs creates unsustainable business models. Companies must price based on usage intensity, not unlimited access, to survive long-term.
•Productivity systems: Plain text files outperform complex to-do apps like Notion, Todoist, and OmniFocus. Users spend more time managing elaborate systems than completing actual work tasks.
•Local AI development: Combining Ollama for models, Assistant UI for interface, Apple's container tool for sandboxed VMs, and Code Runner enables fully offline AI workspaces without cloud dependencies.

Notable Moment

A developer runs an entire website from nine Neovim buffers on an old ThinkPad using a custom Lua plugin with zero dependencies that outperforms nginx.

Know someone who'd find this useful?