I remember for a while it seemed like every conference talk on Ruby (and/or Rails) involved someone dropping into Textmate and showing off something cool. I'm sure people weren't using it just to show off - but it was good marketing for a product in a space where most folks use free editors. Now I'm looking back and seeing it through the lens of signalling. I suppose they were sending a message that it's worth spending something for your tools.

As signaling is the opposite of practical, it's like asking how kryptonite could best help superman

Nice in theory, but the people who write dev tools still need to pay the rent.

I'm not sure I get what you mean. It's just that it's incredibly difficult to signal anything with a tool that exists for the sole purpose of utility. It's like trying to sell cotton with signaling; it doesen't really raise any kinds of emotion