Actually, the Akami download manager was used long before the Microsoft download manager. The reason it's being used is because MSDN hasn't updated their code to use the Microsoft manager.

>Why it is that the download of Visual Studio 2012 from Microsoft MSDN Web site requires Akamai download manager when we already have the Microsoft download manager? Why is it that this comes from a different company when Microsoft already has its own? Why is it that there is now a second download manager from the MSDN Web site? Is this something wrong?