5 ms·

Sennheiser headphone software installing root certificates onto users computers [pdf]

77 points by shrikant 8y ago

reacharavindh 8y ago
I always avoid any crap software that comes with accessories like this. This is why going away from 3.1mm audio jack was a loss.
- em3rgent0rdr 8y ago
  But even if use USB or Bluetooth, can stick to open drivers and standards for sending audio, rather than mandating a proprietary implementation.
empath75 8y ago
Something has gone wrong when you’re installing drivers for headphones.
- Crosseye_Jack 8y ago
  When you use any USB based audio device (headphones, soundcard, mic) you are installing drivers to drive the product. Its just that 99.99% of the time the standard USB Audio Drivers supplied with your OS will work just fine. The issue is what happens when the headphones want to offer more functionality beyond basic audio? Personally I try and stick with using "USB Composite Device" to support more than one device class and then use USB "HIDRAW" [0] to drive that extra functionality (But that's mainly because I can't be arsed to get drivers signed and it does what I need it to do, YMMV). [0] https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/hid/hidraw.txt https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/hid/hidraw.txt
hkt 8y ago
From smart TVs to this. How awful. Software is eating perfectly good peripherals and _totally_ ruining them.
binarymelon 8y ago
It looks like this is software for headsets to be used with softphones, not headphones.
rbanffy 8y ago
Why the hell would a headphone need software?
- dx87 8y ago
  I have a different set of sennheiser headpones, but they include software you can install to emulate surround sound without the headphones actually needing all the speakers for true surround sound.
- QUFB 8y ago
  It also supports firmware updates for Bluetooth headsets.
patrickg_zill 8y ago
I bought some wireless USB headphones from Corsair. The software takes 300mb of disk space. Why?
- lmm 8y ago
  Why not? What rational person would care about 300mb of disk space? I swear HN folks are obsessed with "efficiency" to the exclusion of all common sense.
  - GrumpyNl 8y ago
    Im rational and i care.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - patrickg_zill 8y ago
    First thought is "it only needs a driver for USB -> sound for the wireless dongle it uses" Second thought is "what crap is it installing that is going to slow down my machine" Third thought is "what kind of tracking/surveillance is it going to attempt"
- b2ccb2 8y ago
  Assuming you are referring to the iCue Software: About 72M comes from the directories plugins (some pngs), GameSdkEffects, driver and QtQuick[1]: ~/Downloads/Program Files/Corsair/iCUE du -d1 -h | sort -rh 421M . 28M ./plugins 19M ./GameSdkEffects 13M ./driver 12M ./QtQuick 5.4M ./sounds 5.2M ./translations 3.2M ./System 1.4M ./imageformats 1.2M ./QtGraphicalEffects 1.2M ./platforms 406K ./predefined_data 367K ./QtMultimedia 358K ./mediaservice 286K ./QtQuick.2 265K ./scenegraph 134K ./QtQml 130K ./audio 105K ./Qt 77K ./legal 33K ./iconengines 25K ./playlistformats The bulk comes from these files: ~/Downloads/Program Files/Corsair/iCUE ls -shS | head -10 total 333M 158M cuedevres.bin 51M cueres.bin 36M iCUE.exe 16M opengl32sw.dll 14M vcredist_x86.exe 4.8M Qt5Gui.dll 4.8M efm8load.exe 4.7M Qt5Core.dll 4.4M Qt5Widgets.dll The bin files are identified as: ~/Downloads/Program Files/Corsair/iCUE file *.bin cuedevres.bin: Qt Binary Resource file cueres.bin: Qt Binary Resource file manifestres.bin: Qt Binary Resource file So, it's mostly the QtQuick framework. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qt_Quick https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qt_Quick
bhhaskin 8y ago
This is still bad, but it is important to note this is for a SDK.
merricksb 8y ago
Earlier discussion still on front page: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18550760 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18550760
fmajid 8y ago
WTF? That said, why does the OS allow installing a CA cert without requiring explicit confirmation from the user?

77 points by shrikant 8y ago

I always avoid any crap software that comes with accessories like this. This is why going away from 3.1mm audio jack was a loss.

em3rgent0rdr 8y ago
But even if use USB or Bluetooth, can stick to open drivers and standards for sending audio, rather than mandating a proprietary implementation.

empath75 8y ago

Something has gone wrong when you’re installing drivers for headphones.

Crosseye_Jack 8y ago
When you use any USB based audio device (headphones, soundcard, mic) you are installing drivers to drive the product. Its just that 99.99% of the time the standard USB Audio Drivers supplied with your OS will work just fine. The issue is what happens when the headphones want to offer more functionality beyond basic audio? Personally I try and stick with using "USB Composite Device" to support more than one device class and then use USB "HIDRAW" [0] to drive that extra functionality (But that's mainly because I can't be arsed to get drivers signed and it does what I need it to do, YMMV). [0] https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/hid/hidraw.txt https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/hid/hidraw.txt

hkt 8y ago

From smart TVs to this. How awful. Software is eating perfectly good peripherals and _totally_ ruining them.

binarymelon 8y ago

It looks like this is software for headsets to be used with softphones, not headphones.

rbanffy 8y ago

Why the hell would a headphone need software?

dx87 8y ago
I have a different set of sennheiser headpones, but they include software you can install to emulate surround sound without the headphones actually needing all the speakers for true surround sound.
QUFB 8y ago
It also supports firmware updates for Bluetooth headsets.

patrickg_zill 8y ago

I bought some wireless USB headphones from Corsair. The software takes 300mb of disk space. Why?

lmm 8y ago
Why not? What rational person would care about 300mb of disk space? I swear HN folks are obsessed with "efficiency" to the exclusion of all common sense.
- GrumpyNl 8y ago
  Im rational and i care.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- patrickg_zill 8y ago
  First thought is "it only needs a driver for USB -> sound for the wireless dongle it uses" Second thought is "what crap is it installing that is going to slow down my machine" Third thought is "what kind of tracking/surveillance is it going to attempt"
b2ccb2 8y ago
Assuming you are referring to the iCue Software: About 72M comes from the directories plugins (some pngs), GameSdkEffects, driver and QtQuick[1]: ~/Downloads/Program Files/Corsair/iCUE du -d1 -h | sort -rh 421M . 28M ./plugins 19M ./GameSdkEffects 13M ./driver 12M ./QtQuick 5.4M ./sounds 5.2M ./translations 3.2M ./System 1.4M ./imageformats 1.2M ./QtGraphicalEffects 1.2M ./platforms 406K ./predefined_data 367K ./QtMultimedia 358K ./mediaservice 286K ./QtQuick.2 265K ./scenegraph 134K ./QtQml 130K ./audio 105K ./Qt 77K ./legal 33K ./iconengines 25K ./playlistformats The bulk comes from these files: ~/Downloads/Program Files/Corsair/iCUE ls -shS | head -10 total 333M 158M cuedevres.bin 51M cueres.bin 36M iCUE.exe 16M opengl32sw.dll 14M vcredist_x86.exe 4.8M Qt5Gui.dll 4.8M efm8load.exe 4.7M Qt5Core.dll 4.4M Qt5Widgets.dll The bin files are identified as: ~/Downloads/Program Files/Corsair/iCUE file *.bin cuedevres.bin: Qt Binary Resource file cueres.bin: Qt Binary Resource file manifestres.bin: Qt Binary Resource file So, it's mostly the QtQuick framework. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qt_Quick https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qt_Quick

bhhaskin 8y ago

This is still bad, but it is important to note this is for a SDK.

merricksb 8y ago

Earlier discussion still on front page: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18550760 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18550760

fmajid 8y ago

WTF? That said, why does the OS allow installing a CA cert without requiring explicit confirmation from the user?