Unimpressed by macOS software quality

[bladglorp]

Security Concerns

1. [item] What is 3DxNLServer, and why does 3Dconnection generate and add a root certificate authority to my keychain and mark it Always Trusted? Has this been audited for security concerns?
   
   [item] The autoupdate mechanism queries the plaintext HTTP URL

   Code: Select all

   http://updatecheck.3dconnexion.com/AvailableSoftware_xml

   . Without encryption, an attacker on the network could interfere with the software update check.

macOS Quality Issues

1. [item] Why does the 3Dconnexion installer create the folder /Applications/3Dconnexion and then dump 3DconnexionHelper and 3DconnexionUninstaller outside of it?
   
   [item] The number of items in this folder like 3DxDemos, 3DxSNAxisDemo, Trainer, Puzzle, random model files, etc. give the appearance of a junk drawer. This is not what /Applications is for. These resources should be neatly filed into a .app bundle.
   
   [item] When you run 3Dconnexion Home the first time, it tells you to go the System Settings and approve the driver for 3DconnexionHelper. However, by this time 3DconnexionHelper has not run yet, so there is no entry in System Settings. The helper needs to be started first.
   
   [item] The autoupdate XML currently lists the latest release as 10.8.7 but you've released 10.8.13 on the homepage of your site.
   
   [item] The Trainer app is blurry.
   
   [/item]
   
   
   Confusion
   
   1. [item] What does "Install 3Dconnexion plug-ins" install? Why isn't this part of the normal 3DxWare install process?
      
      [item] Why do you even call it 3DxWare on your website if every single reference on the system is 3Dconnexion not 3DxWare?
      
      [item] Some apps are named with spaces ("3Dconnexion Home") and others not ("3DconnexionUninstaller").
      
      [item] There are no instructions with the Puzzle app.
      
      [item] The System Settings pane for 3Dconnexion has a link to open the Demos app but not the Home app. The Home app does not link out to the Demos app. It's just a mess of random little demo apps that seem intern-quality.

[AmroSalih]

3DxWare is the program that will install 3Dconnexion driver and add-in/plug-in software on the operating system.
3DxNLServer is a core driver component (web program support).
https://3dconnexion.com/is/support/faq/ ... he-driver/

The Mac and Windows driver installers copy the certificate to the system certificate store. Firefox is an exception, as it uses its own certificate store. Our software includes specific handling to support Firefox separately.
https://3dconnexion.com/pl/support/faq/ ... statement/