Microsoft's releases of Visual Studio Code are licensed under this not-FLOSS license and contain telemetry/tracking.
When we [Microsoft] build Visual Studio Code, we do exactly this. We clone the vscode repository, we lay down a customized product.json that has Microsoft specific functionality (telemetry, gallery, logo, etc.), and then produce a build that we release under our license.
When you clone and build from the vscode repo, none of these endpoints are configured in the default product.json. Therefore, you generate a "clean" build, without the Microsoft customizations, which is by default licensed under the MIT license
Extensions and the Marketplace
According to the VS Code Marketplace Terms of Use, you may only install and use Marketplace Offerings with Visual Studio Products and Services. For this reason, VSCodium uses open-vsx.org, an open source registry for VS Code extensions. See the Extensions + Marketplace section on the Docs page for more details.
Please note that some Visual Studio Code extensions have licenses that restrict their use to the official Visual Studio Code builds and therefore do not work with VSCodium. See this note on the Docs page for what's been found so far and possible workarounds.
https://github.com/VSCodium/vscodium#why
[...] it appears to be a deliberate licensing choice by Microsoft to not allow use of the Remote Development extension pack with vscodium
- Reminder: You may only use this software with Visual Studio family products
https://github.com/VSCodium/vscodium/issues/196#issuecomment-523012854
https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-remote-release/issues/967#issuecomment-510990794
Kindly reconsider the licensing for .NET Core debugging libraries
Why keep the debugger proprietary when there is no logical reason except "it's always been that way"? This seems like it goes against everything the .NET Foundation and .NET open source ecosystem stands for.
https://github.com/dotnet/core/issues/505
DRM in HTML5
A few days ago, a proposal was put forward in the HTML Working Group (HTML WG) by Microsoft, Netflix, and Google to take DRM in HTML5 to the next stage of standardization at W3C.
http://manu.sporny.org/2013/drm-in-html5/
[Bug] Name clash with Maui Linux and MauiKit
https://github.com/dotnet/maui/issues/35
https://github.com/dotnet/maui/issues?q=mauikit
Microsoft gets exclusive license for OpenAI’s GPT-3 language model
Microsoft Chat Bot Goes On Racist, Genocidal Twitter Rampage
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/microsoft-tay-racist-tweets_n_56f3e678e4b04c4c37615502
Former Microsoft Chief Privacy Adviser: "I don't trust Microsoft" - Only Uses Open Source Software
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/30/microsoft-privacy-chief-nsa
Using or license clrdbg outside of VSCode
Apparently, JetBrains Rider also hit the license issue and removed CoreCLR debugging
https://github.com/OmniSharp/omnisharp-vscode/issues/1059
DOTNET_CLI_TELEMETRY_OPTOUT
https://github.com/dotnet/docs/blob/main/docs/core/tools/telemetry.md
Our team's plan is to transition users in VS Code over to Pylance.
After that, this repository will no longer be maintained, at which point you would have to migrate over to another open-source option.
https://github.com/microsoft/python-language-server/issues/2096#issuecomment-666507951
‘Crush Them’: An Oral History of the Lawsuit That Upended Silicon Valley
Twenty years ago, Microsoft tried to eliminate its competition in the race for the future of the internet. The government had other ideas.
Microsoft Continues to Use Software Patents to Extort/Blackmail Even More Companies That Use Linux, Forcing/Coercing Them Into Preinstalling Microsoft
You are opted-in to just about everything by default and have to set hundreds of settings to opt out, even on an Enterprise Windows system. Sometimes multiple settings for the same feature. Most Microsoft documentation discourages opting out and warns of a less optimal experience.
It’s almost like they don’t want you to opt-out.
But you can’t completely opt-out. Windows still tracks too much.
https://xato.net/windows-spying-and-a-twitter-rant-19203babb2e7
Even when told not to, Windows 10 doesn't stop talking to Microsoft
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10053352
Why We Can No Longer Trust Microsoft
https://www.pcmag.com/news/why-we-can-no-longer-trust-microsoft
Removing “Annoying” Windows 10 Features Is a DMCA Violation, Microsoft Says
Microsoft to force Chrome default search to Bing via Office365 ProPlus installer
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22126083
Microsoft Halloween documents leak
Marked "Microsoft confidential", they identify open-source software, and in particular the Linux operating system, as a major threat to Microsoft's dominance of the software industry, and suggest ways in which Microsoft could disrupt the progress of open source software.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween_documents
http://www.catb.org/esr/halloween/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCO%E2%80%93Linux_disputes#Microsoft_funding_of_SCO_controversy
https://grantster.com/2012/06/07/the-stacker-conspiracy/
https://web.archive.org/web/20150601045234/http://badmicrosoft.com/
Mastering Avada Kedavra is a very hard job. The killing curse is one of the hardest of all spells to learn and can only be perfected by very powerful witches and wizards. There is no particular way to say the curse, although you must cast it in a particular way. First, you must hold your wand slightly-not far- into the air. Then you must slowly lower your wand and say the incantation clearly. If you move the wand too fast when casting the Avada Kedavra curse, there could be some major side-effects.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend,_and_extinguish
Microsoft begins showing an anti-Firefox ad in the Windows 10 start menu
With Windows 10, Microsoft Blatantly Disregards User Choice and Privacy: A Deep Dive
Microsoft v. MikeRoweSoft
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_vs._MikeRoweSoft
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_Corp.
Microsoft Is Putting Ads on the Mail App in Windows 10
Microsoft says it won't sell facial recognition to the police.
These documents show how it pitched that technology to the Federal Government.
Microsoft’s monopoly is maintained by introducing the company’s software in education, lack of public bids for IT services, and well connected lobbyists.
https://thenextweb.com/news/europe-is-living-under-microsofts-digital-killswitch
Microsoft wants to monopolise games development on PC
Microsoft asks pals to help KILL UK gov's Open Document Format dream
https://www.theregister.com/2014/02/22/microsoft_uk_odf_response/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standardization_of_Office_Open_XML
https://www.informationweek.com/applications/microsoft-ooxml-controversy-rises-again/d/d-id/1072645
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/may/22/microsoft-faces-claims-it-threatened-mps-with-job-cuts-in-constituencies
http://www.groklaw.net
https://www.wsj.com/articles/microsoft-to-pay-25-million-to-settle-foreign-bribery-probe-11563811097
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6596038
A driver containing rootkit malware was certified by Microsoft
https://www.pcgamer.com/a-driver-containing-rootkit-malware-was-certified-by-microsoft/
Hey Microsoft, stop installing apps on my pc without asking
https://www.howtogeek.com/342871/hey-microsoft-stop-installing-apps-on-my-pc-without-asking/
Microsoft 365 has employee surveillance and analytics built in
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25198713
Microsoft’s Bing uses Google search results—and denies it
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/microsofts-bing-uses-google-search.html
Edge sends full URLs of pages visited to Microsoft
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20491257
Which tech companies back SOPA? Microsoft, Apple, and 27 others
https://thenextweb.com/news/which-tech-companies-back-sopa-microsoft-apple-and-27-others
Antitrust complaint against Android: Microsoft and Oracle say it's "predatory" for companies to give away software.
Microsoft repo installed on all Raspberry Pi’s
https://old.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/lbu0t1/microsoft_repo_installed_on_all_raspberry_pis/
I think it's time I publicly shared about how Microsoft stole my code and then spit on it.
https://old.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/8nztqi/i_think_its_time_i_publicly_shared_about_how/
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17214257
Microsoft copied new Windows Package Manager from rival AppGet, claims developer
https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/28/21272964/microsoft-winget-windows-package-manager-appget-copied
The Day AppGet Died
https://keivan.io/the-day-appget-died/
Windows 11: TPMs and Digital Sovereignty
We ask you to do your research in an age of increased restriction of personal freedom, censorship, and endless media propaganda. We strongly encourage you to research Microsoft’s future Pluton chip.
https://secret.club/2021/06/28/windows11-tpms.html
Microsoft wants to turn your pc into an Xbox with Pluton
“Microsoft Pluton Hardware Security Coming to Our CPUs”: AMD, Intel, Qualcomm
Innovating with our partners to enhance chip-to-cloud security
New chips and security do mean new fears about DRM, and the fact that processors will now call back to Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure for updates.
https://www.anandtech.com/show/16269/microsoft-pluton-hardware-security-coming-to-our-cpus-amd-intel-qualcomm
https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/17/21571069/microsoft-pluton-processor-security-windows-pc
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25191319
In June 2002, Microsoft released information regarding its new "Palladium" initiative.
Palladium is a system that combines software and hardware controls to create a "trusted" computing platform. In doing so, it would establish an unprecedented level of control over users and their computers.
Palladium could place Microsoft as the gatekeeper of identification and authentication.
Additionally, systems embedded in both software and hardware would control access to content, thereby creating ubiquitous Digital Rights Management schemes that can track users and control use of media.
https://epic.org/privacy/consumer/microsoft/palladium.html
Voting manipulation on Microsoft Open Source thread on r/programming?
https://old.reddit.com/r/opensource/comments/i9eldm/voting_manipulation_on_microsoft_open_source/