20 replies

1. Eystein 11 min later

   @zachleat Thanks, and disabled! / @baldur

2. Tim Severien 43 min later

   @zachleat @baldur Made a little website for a bunch of webdev tools a while ago to get an overview of what is being collected and how to opt out. But yeah, VS Code is being particularly naughty.

   https://telemetry.timseverien.com/tools/visual-studio-code/

   1. Zach Leatherman 45 min later

      @timsev @baldur wow—this is amazing! Thanks for calling it out!

   2. Baldur Bjarnason 46 min later

      @timsev That looks super useful. @zachleat

3. Zach Leatherman 46 min later

   Check out this website from @timsev that documents telemetry from a bunch of different tools: https://telemetry.timseverien.com/tools/

   and the score for Visual Studio Code: https://telemetry.timseverien.com/tools/visual-studio-code/

   1. Khalid ⚡ 52 min later

      @zachleat Do you think the JavaScript community is self-aware that they’ve poured all their energy into a tool ecosystem they don’t own?

      1. Zach Leatherman 3 hr later

         @khalidabuhakmeh do you mean the editor ecosystem or the framework ecosystem? I’m not sure. I’m tempted to blame the erosion of privacy norms in the US. EU folks seem to take a more principled approach, thankfully.

         1. Khalid ⚡ 3 hr later

            @zachleat Well, mostly the editor ecosystem, but I fear the line between the two begins to blur when you talk about LSP implementations.

            Most LSP implementations have a thick veneer of VSCode around them, which, imho reduces choice in tooling for the majority of folks.

            1. Zach Leatherman 3 hr later

               @khalidabuhakmeh this is my first time hearing about LSP 👀👀👀

               1. Khalid ⚡ 3 hr later

                  @zachleat Oh dear… scan the article again. TL;DR: Some language servers being pushed have restrictive licensing, which means they can only be used within VSCode.

                  I think this will be the standard approach moving forward.

                  More info: https://langserver.org/ (fun activity: Search for Microsoft on the page)

                  1. Zach Leatherman 4 hr later

                     @khalidabuhakmeh whew, yeah. Hm. My personal experience is that I’m pretty editor fluid. I’ve switched editors many times in my career. If I had to fast forward twenty years I’d guess that future-me will be recommending vim (though I don’t use it now) 😅

4. Jason Garber 53 min later

   @zachleat My favorite part is that you can’t turn telemetry off via the VS Code settings UI. 🫠

   1. Zach Leatherman 58 min later

      @jgarber wait—really? Maybe this changed because I thought I just did that? Or was I misled 😅

   2. Marc Amos 59 min later

      @jgarber @zachleat It looks like you can:

      1. Jason Garber 2 hr later

         @marcamos @zachleat Oh! My mistake. There’s a hidden scrollbar in the dropdown which was hiding the “off” option.

         1. Marc Amos 3 hr later

            @jgarber @zachleat https://media.giphy.com/media/l4KhStwfccoc7t6IU/giphy.gif

5. Grigør 1 hr later

   @zachleat @baldur been using vs codium for a few years now. Same source code (the open source part) mimus telemetry and tracking

   1. Zach Leatherman 1 hr later

      @grgml @baldur yeah, TIL! @BenBen called that out too: https://chaos.social/@BenBen/111256349381794543

6. Three 15 hr later

   @zachleat @baldur Why don't you use a better text editor that doesn't want to track you? Or if you have to stay within that ecosystem why not use Codium?

   1. Zach Leatherman 23 hr later

      @three @baldur I suspect this post was the beginning of my journey towards that end!