Anyone knows if there's a way to avoid that? I'd like to have "just an IDE", for node and web development.
Sorry to reply on a tangent, but for that sort of development I feel compelled to chip in and recommend WebStorm. It's not free, but ships with a boatload of features that are perfect for NodeJS/WebDev. Like a reverse-debugger that you can use on your serverside as well as front-end code. A real time-saver.
http://blog.jetbrains.com/webstorm/2014/04/spy-js-webstorm-s...
What that out of the way, within five seconds of clicking the link here it computed 7GB of disk space. It did not provide options to ignore subcomponents like the full VS 2013/4.
My experience is that the MS tools stuff installs and uninstalls cleanly -- and what little it leaves behind are some system components that I'd prefer to have updated and left around anyway. If this freaks you out then that's what VMs are for.
This is not just about "style" or "personal preference", it is a serious problem: it eats too much energy and therefore destroys the planet, millions of old but perfectly usable devices are transformed into highly dangerous toxic waste because Windows 8x is too slow for them and - most important - we loose a whole generation of brains as too many young developers grow up in the perception that this kind of bloat is acceptable, what is a real catastrophe for the whole industry - it is so hard to find people that can program without crutches and really know what they are doing.
We should more actively avoid this bloat and support better alternatives.
Yes, Mickysoft jobs pay the bills for many, but this happened because we tolerated this too long and alternatives were too weak. Nowadays it is possible to replace all the legacy MS waste that still exists in many companies with better solutions.
Wait, Open Source is magically free of bloatware? OpenOffice, Firefox, KDE?
Try running a modern Linux desktop distro like Ubuntu on a 10 year old machine or a 5 year old netbook. Open ten tabs with sites like Gmail, YouTube etc. in Firefox on that machine and then get back to us.
And since Windows 7, the minimum requirements have been steady and boot time has been pretty fast.
I run windows on a 4 year old thinkpad. It's 8.1 on an i5. It goes like lightning and the battery lasts twice as long as Ubuntu does on the same kit even after powertop has been frigged with.
Also my wife's android handset has 25% more battery capacity than my Lumia 630 and lasts half as long.
YMMV but what you state is not factual and merely a slashdot-esque troll.