VS Code is free software?

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dcapeletti
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Joined: 04/03/2014

Hi, there,
I'm looking for an IDE for python. VS code is going very well and I want to have it in my system. According to the FSF website it's free, but I have my doubts. What do you think? https://directory.fsf.org/wiki?title=Visual_Studio_Code&oldid=36929

Thank you

calher

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Joined: 06/19/2015

VSCode is an Electron program.  Electron includes a huge amount of code
derived from Chromium, so it is in the same undetermined state as it.

Therefore, many of us do not use Chromium, Etcher, Riot Desktop or
VSCode.

gd_scania
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Joined: 09/13/2017

So semi-nonfree like the same issues found from Qt5-WebEngine? PureOS has liberated Qt5-WebEngine and I have sources at home.

calher

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Joined: 06/19/2015

On Mon, 2018-08-13 at 05:06 +0200, name at domain wrote:
> So semi-nonfree like the same issues found from Qt5-WebEngine? PureOS
> has  
> liberated Qt5-WebEngine and I have sources at home.

Why should I believe that PureOS cleaned Qt5-WebEngine?

I want to believe it, but PureOS has been sketchy from the start.

Heckyel (not verified)
Heckyel

The most recommended is that don't use the vs code. In his replacement always this emacs. And if you want a basic and pleasant configuration I have a basic personalization of emacs

calher

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Joined: 06/19/2015

Oh, show me your Emacs config! :D :D :D

khanh_duong
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Joined: 12/22/2016

> According to the FSF website it's free

This is not true
https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Visual_Studio_Code

It hasn't been approved yet, and I doubt it will be accepted.

AlexMex90
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Joined: 09/30/2015

Hey forum, long time member/lurker, logged in just to add my $0.02 USD

The Visual Studio Code binary from Microsoft is proprietary. It uses the MIT-licensed source code available at https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode as its base, however it contains changes that are not distributed.

There is a Free build in Flathub which is also compiled from the MIT-licensed code and is released under a free license (GNU Affero General Public License v3). This free build is available here: https://github.com/flathub/com.visualstudio.code.oss

This free version is also published in Flathub: https://flathub.org/apps/details/com.visualstudio.code.oss
That one should be preferable, however, I don't know what is the situation regarding plugins, if it does anything to prevent the installation of non-free plugins, or if it allows plugins at all.

t3g
t3g
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Joined: 05/15/2011

Since Trisquel is based on Ubuntu, you can also install the Snap:

https://snapcraft.io/vscode

chaosmonk

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I am a translator!

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Joined: 07/07/2017

> https://snapcraft.io/vscode

Like the binary distributed by Micro$oft, this appears to be proprietary.

onpon4
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Joined: 05/30/2012

I meant to reply to this.

Trisquel doesn't support snaps. The facility was removed because making it only libre software snaps was too much work (if I understood the reason correctly). This should serve as a reminder that just because something works in Ubuntu doesn't necessarily mean it works on Trisquel the same way.

xdknight
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Joined: 05/31/2017

VS Code is Microsoft's stuff. When you install it, it immediately starts to send your data to Microsoft, only after that is asks "Whould like to continue send data to Microsoft?"
You should avoid Microsoft stuff as it was fire.

MICROSOFT NEVER GIVES SOMETHING FREE! Just always remember this.

J.B. Nicholson-Owens
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Joined: 06/09/2014

name at domain wrote:
> You should avoid Microsoft stuff as it was fire.
>
> MICROSOFT NEVER GIVES SOMETHING FREE! Just always remember this.

I understand that Microsoft has earned a horrible reputation and most of
the software they distribute is proprietary (which is an injustice in
itself). However I would rather we teach people to evaluate programs by
what appears in the source code and by the program's licensing, not the
reputation of the copyright holder.

It's entirely possible Microsoft's free software is trustworthy; worthy of
use, enhancement, and continued distribution just like any other free
software. After all, free software puts us in a position to not have to
fall back on vague prejudicial estimations like reputations.

calher

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Joined: 06/19/2015

Going by reputation is probably why Google gets away with openwashing
Android.

hadipeyrow
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Joined: 08/03/2018

Why you don't use powerful editors such as vim and emacs? vim and emacs has many great plugins for python development.

freeatlast

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Joined: 07/21/2018

as far as VS code is concerned only the source code is free software flathub does contain propritatary software such as spotify and steam so unless you are running pureos an fsf approved distro you should not use flatpak