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Comment by FreddyQ44 | Hacker News Reader

I don't understand the reasoning behind that at all.

OK, MS wants our data. So do Apple, Google, FB. No news. But they already have everything: The user (MS account) when downloading VS. The id of the copy (serial number or whatever), all kind of information related to the Windows Version, the currently logged in user, machine data, ... VS or Windows can collect usage data, etc.

Why do they want me to sign in VS? They already have it all, don't they?

Or are there simpler (less paranoid :-)) reasons?

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It is tied to your MSDN account and TFS Online (*which supports Git by the way) account. Upon signing in, you have access to all of your company's shared projects and there is no need to enter any serial number(s).

Microsoft are trying to move away from boxed software and into software as a service. Linking everything into your MSDN account is one way to "tick" that box.

In 2013 at least, there is a "enter serial" button (forget the exact wording) and you can simply grab a ye' olde serial from your MSDN account and plop it in. But doing so breaks TFS Online (since that relies on your Microsoft Account/MSDN Account for permissions to access projects).

But if you'd prefer not to use TFS Online then just use GitHub. Visual Studio supports it. Heck GitHub even released a funky extension to make it just that much easier (and that too requires you to login to an account).

Why?

Simply to assert their self-assigned rights over everything that you write, think and do and to line up ready to easily collect the drip feed of cash they want from everyone.

For this they trade you semi-functional software, vague promises that are usually broken and marketing hype.

That's how all "ecosystems" work.

Which is why I'm not in one for my personal stuff. At work however, they're lining up like good cows for the next milking. They've forgotten that SQL 2014 cost and the Azure price rise already...

You sound like you'd be more comfortable in another "ecosystem"?

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