Where did they actually do nice things?
VSCode is still not entirely open source and the official builds have spyware included.
VSCode is still not entirely open source and the official builds have spyware included.
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.
Telemetry and spyware differ only in the way collected data is used.
A lot of software lets you opt-out from Telemetry gathering when you install it. I would not think Spyware would do this.
And I feel like saying it's "only in the way collected data is used" really makes a small thing out of something that is very important. There's a very big difference in doing something maliciously and doing it to genuinely try to make your software better!
Lots of spyware that wants to remain on one side of a less dramatic divide simply provides "options" for example in the installer that are opt in and vaguely defined that no sane individual fully understanding his options would opt for.
Such software isn't usually cryptolocking your family pictures instead its frequently grossly violating your privacy and selling your time and attention to third parties who in turn may opt to use this bought and paid for back door into your computer to waste your time or cryptolock your family pictures.
Here's a clue. If you have to make a feature opt out because nobody on earth would opt in given time and expertise sufficient to understand your offer then you are victimizing your user. I cannot think of a case where any data collection being anything other than opt in would be acceptable.
No, they first and foremost differ in the kind of data is collected. Spying is not spying if you anonymously collect information about how frequently a feature/future/option is used only.
So, the OP was correct in calling it just spyware?
Why do people jump into defending corporations that repeatedly abuse their customers when they do unknowable hidden actions?
And the illusion that it will always be possible to disable telemetry is just that, an illusion.
As a developer, how do you know the data you're collecting now won't be used maliciously in the future by your org?
I'm absolutely all for privacy and limiting unnecessary gathering of data. But there's nuances to this discussion and labeling everything that has any amount of telemetry as "Spyware" does not do anyone any good.
Maybe it's not "hurr durr" and people have a legitimate reason to hold that opinion. To those people, any distinction between spyware and "good" telemetry is merely academic and effectively irrelevant.
My favorite part is when someone figures out "telemetry" includes the MAC address, and the dev team just goes completely silent.
There's an honest, non sneaky way of gathering usage information: pay for rigorous testing and price the cost into the product. Telemetry is lazy, invasive, and user hostile by default. Every bit of information acquired from users should be given with informed consent or not collected at all.
It's hard to really stand up to that kind of situation.
Hashed MAC address: a cryptographically (SHA256) anonymous and unique ID for a machine.
Although I disagree that they should have this to begin with, it being anonymized is still a pretty important detail.
The fact that they are taking uniquely identifiable information from you, and the fact that their company is as deep in the Ad game as Google, is more than damning enough.
"hurr durr" strawmen on the other hand...
Such a feature should be disabled by default.
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.
We don't collect customer data, we ask for feedback directly.
It's worth bearing in mind for those considering switching.