5 ms·

Where did they actually do nice things? VSCode is still not entirely open source and the official builds have spyware included.

lordofgibbons 5y ago
Thank you for saying this. For those who don't know about the open-source release of VSCode, check out https://vscodium.com/ https://vscodium.com/
- alias_neo 5y ago
  I use VSCodium every day, and recommend it over VSCode to everyone, however, due to microsoft's locked down plugins, particulary the ones related to remote development and debug, there are certain things which can be done with VSCode and not VSCodium. It's worth bearing in mind for those considering switching.
  - rzzzt 5y ago
    SSH FS, a third-party extension seems to work well with VSCodium: https://github.com/SchoofsKelvin/vscode-sshfs https://github.com/SchoofsKelvin/vscode-sshfs
    - alias_neo 5y ago
      Yes, but unfortunately if you want to use something like Okteto[0] it requires the microsoft plugin. There are other third party plugins and tools tightly bound to the Microsoft ones making them unfortunately unusable. [0]https://okteto.com/ https://okteto.com/
    - pedro2 5y ago
      They mean Microsoft's plugins -- they just work with VSCode on purpose.
      - rzzzt 5y ago
        This one is an alternative to the remote development tooling which doesn't work on VSCodium. It is certainly not a full replacement, but you get to poke around the files on the remote system and run commands over SSH.
- canada_dry 5y ago
  Sadly, MS has locked-out the extremely useful and popular PlatformIO from being available in vscodium.
Oddskar 5y ago
It's honestly weird to see "Telemetry" labeled as "Spyware" by a technical people that, quite frankly, should know better. Spyware is NOT the same as gathering Telemetry data. You can also just turn off Telemetry in VSCode in the settings. I think a vast majority of people on HN gather data on customer usage of the products that they build. Because it ultimately makes us able to tailor the products better for our customers. It's just ignorant to put this in the same category as applications that slurp up as much data as they can for e.g. ad-profiles or to sell that data off to the highest bidder.
- ziml77 5y ago
  My issue with telemetry is it increases the chances of data leakage. I don't care if Microsoft gets data on what commands I'm selecting from the menus. What I do care about is that they record any free-form entries. Let's say they want to know everything I type in the command palette so they can figure out if they should add aliases for certain actions. That doesn't sound too bad until you consider the case where you tried to paste in what you were looking for, but forgot that you had something very personal in the clipboard. Once that happens, you just have to hope that the first person to see it is a good enough person to wipe all traces of that info out.
- e0a74c 5y ago
  > You can also just turn off Telemetry in VSCode in the settings. Such a feature should be disabled by default.
- TeMPOraL 5y ago
  > It's honestly weird to see "Telemetry" labeled as "Spyware" by a technical people that, quite frankly, should know better. It's precisely because it's technical people who know better that you see "telemetry" labeled as "spyware", which it is, and it's how we called it back in the 1990s/2000s. The only reason people these days call spyware "telemetry", is because it got normalized by large companies, and is now defended by devs who figure it's better to ship spyware to people than to give a damn and talk with users.
- dvhh 5y ago
  By the same standard, Apple telemetry should also be labelled as "spyware" yet nobody would bat an eyelid at Apple mentioning data of their telemetry reports.

lordofgibbons 5y ago

Thank you for saying this. For those who don't know about the open-source release of VSCode, check out https://vscodium.com/ https://vscodium.com/

alias_neo 5y ago
I use VSCodium every day, and recommend it over VSCode to everyone, however, due to microsoft's locked down plugins, particulary the ones related to remote development and debug, there are certain things which can be done with VSCode and not VSCodium. It's worth bearing in mind for those considering switching.
- rzzzt 5y ago
  SSH FS, a third-party extension seems to work well with VSCodium: https://github.com/SchoofsKelvin/vscode-sshfs https://github.com/SchoofsKelvin/vscode-sshfs
  - alias_neo 5y ago
    Yes, but unfortunately if you want to use something like Okteto[0] it requires the microsoft plugin. There are other third party plugins and tools tightly bound to the Microsoft ones making them unfortunately unusable. [0]https://okteto.com/ https://okteto.com/
  - pedro2 5y ago
    They mean Microsoft's plugins -- they just work with VSCode on purpose.
    - rzzzt 5y ago
      This one is an alternative to the remote development tooling which doesn't work on VSCodium. It is certainly not a full replacement, but you get to poke around the files on the remote system and run commands over SSH.
canada_dry 5y ago
Sadly, MS has locked-out the extremely useful and popular PlatformIO from being available in vscodium.

Oddskar 5y ago

It's honestly weird to see "Telemetry" labeled as "Spyware" by a technical people that, quite frankly, should know better. Spyware is NOT the same as gathering Telemetry data. You can also just turn off Telemetry in VSCode in the settings. I think a vast majority of people on HN gather data on customer usage of the products that they build. Because it ultimately makes us able to tailor the products better for our customers. It's just ignorant to put this in the same category as applications that slurp up as much data as they can for e.g. ad-profiles or to sell that data off to the highest bidder.

ziml77 5y ago
My issue with telemetry is it increases the chances of data leakage. I don't care if Microsoft gets data on what commands I'm selecting from the menus. What I do care about is that they record any free-form entries. Let's say they want to know everything I type in the command palette so they can figure out if they should add aliases for certain actions. That doesn't sound too bad until you consider the case where you tried to paste in what you were looking for, but forgot that you had something very personal in the clipboard. Once that happens, you just have to hope that the first person to see it is a good enough person to wipe all traces of that info out.
e0a74c 5y ago
> You can also just turn off Telemetry in VSCode in the settings. Such a feature should be disabled by default.
TeMPOraL 5y ago
> It's honestly weird to see "Telemetry" labeled as "Spyware" by a technical people that, quite frankly, should know better. It's precisely because it's technical people who know better that you see "telemetry" labeled as "spyware", which it is, and it's how we called it back in the 1990s/2000s. The only reason people these days call spyware "telemetry", is because it got normalized by large companies, and is now defended by devs who figure it's better to ship spyware to people than to give a damn and talk with users.
dvhh 5y ago
By the same standard, Apple telemetry should also be labelled as "spyware" yet nobody would bat an eyelid at Apple mentioning data of their telemetry reports.