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JetBrains forces AI freemium plugin that cannot be completely removed into IDEs

youtrack.jetbrains.com

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Re: JetBrains forces AI freemium plugin that cannot be completely removed into IDEs

#81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What is not is what is described in the linked issue. There seems to be a singular issue/ bug, which is that a disabled plugin is being re-enabled after update. This is just a bug, I don't understand why this is HN-worthy. If the headline were "intellij has a bug where a disabled plugin is being re-enabled" it would be accurate, not-inflammatory, and boring.

So you disable and uninstall the plugin. Then after an update,you're silently running with it on[1]. For my company and a lot of others I know, you are now in violation of your contract with your employer courtesy of a JetBrains bug because they insisted this be an uninstallable plugin. [1] = https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/IDEA-341408/Disabling-p...

> Then after an update,you're silently running with it on

Yes, that sounds like a bug to me.

> because they insisted this be an uninstallable plugin.

I don't see a comment from Jetbrains saying that the plugin is supposed to be re-enabled.

Re: JetBrains forces AI freemium plugin that cannot be completely removed into IDEs

#82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I don't see the problem with that at all. Intellij packages plugins. Plugins run. The only issue here is that it's being automatically enabled after it is disabled, which I assume is just a simple bug and not at all the big deal this is being made out to be.

My understanding is that people expect their projects being sent to Jetbrains or whatever servers for analysis and that's not allowed in many environments. I've heard of some workplaces where it's outright forbidden to update idea to this version until further notice.

From what I'm seeing this plugin will not send any data to Jetbrains if you don't activate the backend features, but please let me know if that's incorrect.

Again, this is really more of a conversation for a support forum and not hn...

edit: I just updated and the plugin definitely does not just start sending data, you have to explicitly click 'start trial'.

Re: JetBrains forces AI freemium plugin that cannot be completely removed into IDEs

#83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if you disable the plugin, it will be enabled when you restart. Must be bug or misunderstanding , I disabled it last week and it stayed off, the ticket complains that the plugin can't be wiped but this is not the only plugin that works like that.

I went back in and it turns out there are four separate, related plugins- AI Assistant Full Line Code completion Machine Learning Code completion Machine Learning in Search Everywhere I had just been disabling the AI Assistant, which was being re-enabled by one or all of the other three that depended upon it. If I disable all four they do not re-enable.

I checked and I also had the 2 Machine learning plugins enabled, but the AI assistent was never re-enabled. I done a checka dn disabled some other plugins I do not need anymore now.

I was in the beta test for the AI assistant plugin but in my work I only used it 2 or 3 times from curiosity, for me at that time the AI could not help, maybe in future when it can understand the entire project then it would make more sense.

Re: JetBrains forces AI freemium plugin that cannot be completely removed into IDEs

#84

What is with this outrage over a bundled plugin? Is it two minutes of hate for yet another AI chat bot? You can't even use it without first starting a 7-day trial, or purchasing the separate AI service subscription for it. Organization accounts even have to authorize use so that removes possible IP concerns.

I think it comes down to expectations being betrayed, even if the expectations aren't correct.

For me, I pay Jetbrains every year because I want a fully local IDE. I absolutely do NOT want any kind of cloud integration because that means my workflow becomes dependent on Jetbrains or whatever third party is powering the integration. At that point, all of the value of Jetbrains is gone, at least for me, and I could use any other editor. VSCode is much easier to use with dev containers based on my experience.

The other thing that's frustrating is the willingness to ship code off to some third party server / service. Again, I'm paying to NOT have that.

Personally, I don't think Jetbrains will hold out much longer and this is a sign of that. If the people making these decisions have enough power (internally) to put a cloud connected AI assistant in my face, I think it's only a matter of time until they become infested with service based monetization schemes that turn their products into the same junk we're seeing from everyone else in the industry.

Jetbrains needs to re-evaluate what their customers are paying for because they seem to be misguided.

I see some people singing the praises of AI which hasn't been my experience. Any time I ask it about a topic where I'd consider myself an expert, it's wildly wrong. It only seems useful when I ask it about topics where I have very little understanding because the responses are confident sounding and well organized.

So my hunch is that people finding it useful are probably below average developers that don't know what they don't know.

Re: JetBrains forces AI freemium plugin that cannot be completely removed into IDEs

#85

What is with this outrage over a bundled plugin? Is it two minutes of hate for yet another AI chat bot? You can't even use it without first starting a 7-day trial, or purchasing the separate AI service subscription for it. Organization accounts even have to authorize use so that removes possible IP concerns.

I think it comes down to expectations being betrayed, even if the expectations aren't correct. For me, I pay Jetbrains every year because I want a fully local IDE. I absolutely do NOT want any kind of cloud integration because that means my workflow becomes dependent on Jetbrains or whatever third party is powering the integration. At that point, all of the value of Jetbrains is gone, at least for me, and I could use…

A lot of text and it's still not clear what you're trying to say. Just disable the plugin if you don't need it or don't find it useful?

Re: JetBrains forces AI freemium plugin that cannot be completely removed into IDEs

#86
post #47

It's _mildly_ infuriating but disable it and move on.

Please don't make such glib uninformed comments: https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/IDEA-341408/Disabling-p...

Have you actually read the description of this issue? It's a UX bug with the uninstall action.

Re: JetBrains forces AI freemium plugin that cannot be completely removed into IDEs

#87
I feel really sorry for JetBrains. They've built, over a long time, a company that makes money from actually good engineering and I was happy to pay for their products for a long time. Then VSCode happened and there just doesn't seem to be a point any more :(

Re: JetBrains forces AI freemium plugin that cannot be completely removed into IDEs

#88
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I don't see the problem with that at all. Intellij packages plugins. Plugins run. The only issue here is that it's being automatically enabled after it is disabled, which I assume is just a simple bug and not at all the big deal this is being made out to be.

Alas, it blocks my upgrade totally. I'm glad your firm lets you send code anywhere. Mine does not.

I don't think that the plugin being enabled sends data anywhere.

Re: JetBrains forces AI freemium plugin that cannot be completely removed into IDEs

#89

To clarify submission- -if you disable the plugin, it will be enabled when you restart. -if you uninstall the plugin, on restart an old version will appear, enabled, in its place, begging for an update. However given that JetBrains didn't block either uninstall or disable, the most logical explanation is that this is a bug/unintentional. The rollout of this AI plugin has been really poorly done, with it completely fa…

Worth noting that "enabled" doesn't mean it's actually activated. The plugin explicitly asks you to activate it if you want to use it. So it's not analyzing your code or sending anything to Jetbrains' service.

This is much ado about nothing.

Re: JetBrains forces AI freemium plugin that cannot be completely removed into IDEs

#90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it comes down to expectations being betrayed, even if the expectations aren't correct. For me, I pay Jetbrains every year because I want a fully local IDE. I absolutely do NOT want any kind of cloud integration because that means my workflow becomes dependent on Jetbrains or whatever third party is powering the integration. At that point, all of the value of Jetbrains is gone, at least for me, and I could use…

A lot of text and it's still not clear what you're trying to say. Just disable the plugin if you don't need it or don't find it useful?

I shouldn't need to disable a plugin like that. In my opinion, it's something that I should need to explicitly enable if I want it. All it takes is one person on a project accepting the prompts to agree to the ToS for everyone. They know it's problem too because commercial accounts can disable the integration for everyone.

And most of what I said was relating to the direction Jetbrains is moving. As soon as they start adding service based integrations, it's a slippery slope and we could end up with IDEs that depend on calling out to Jetbrains' services to function.

That's the exact opposite of what I want from Jetbrains and keeping that kind of stuff out of the IDE is the reason I pay them every year.

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