But, also... Sol crushes Flash 3.7 at writing code in a codebase of any size beyond "tiny".
Flash is my go-to for prototyping, and basically anything that isn't writing production code.
1. Data. Lots of data.
2. Money. Lots of money.
3. Access to necessary hardware.
4. Business alignment/will to do it.
5. Access to talent, current and future.
This is certainly incomplete/naive. In my mind, though, Google was the clear answer.
On a more personal level, I've been deep into the Google ecosystem since I got diederich@gmail.com in 2005. (I actually paid 50 cents on ebay to get a very early invite.) There was no question in my mind that Google's AI work would deeply integrate into their whole ecosystem in very powerful and productive ways. (Yes, I can join you to discuss, at length, the various ways that Google's dominance is problematic/scary.)
Having said all that, I'm quite happy that there is, at the moment, a very rich competitive landscape. Indeed, not too long ago, with Gemini Pro 3.1 languishing, I moved most of my deeper thinking work to ChatGPT, which was, for me at least, clearly outperforming Gemini.
While I certainly didn't anticipate it, Google's strategy of making their fast/relatively inexpensive models surprisingly powerful has been a welcomed surprise.
edit: I have a subscription; direct call.
experience tells me that those people simply have not used models for a long period of time specifically on coding and have run their own comparisons
to someone who uses all vendors, the differences are very palpable and drives purchase decisions.
also keep in mind Gemini and other labs have repeatedly done benchmaxxing, you must have your own benchmarks to evaluate these models.