As if it wasn’t bad enough that they want me to use a random internet service to add a keyboard to a usb wifi receiver, they have the balls to put this for Firefox users. I clicked out of pure curiosity, as I’m not even remotely interested in involving a corporate internet service in getting my keyboard connected to my computer. This is the message you get now on Logi Options software if you have a Unifying Receiver: 
For the curious: https://logiwebconnect.com
EDIT: some people on the thread have brought up that the error message being displayed for Firefox users is due to the WebUSB API not being implemented by Firefox due to security concerns. This still does not justify having to use a web app to plug peripherals to a PC.
“This browser does not support the application” No, the application doesn’t support the browser
I was already moving toward never buying Logitech again, but this shit seals the deal.
Speedlink is my go-to.
Same man, I thought they were a great company. Bought a decent mouse died after 9 months. Any alternatives?
Not the Logitech I became a fan of, glad they updated the name to Logi reflecting they’re half the company they used to be.
I miss the old Logitech software and Logitech Gaming Software, from like 10 years ago.
Now I can’t even launch the driver software to adjust my webcam or mouse behavior from my work computer because of legitimate Internet security settings preventing random background apps from exfilteating data, which is exactly what it’s trying to do.
Customer support of course blames the user for their app that will never finish loading until it talks to the mother ship.
In fairness to me this kind of thing is nothing new on Logitech’s part. Back in the XP/Vista days, Logitech refused to follow established usb standards for things like webcam’s and the like. So we depended on Logitech providing drivers, which they didn’t bother doing for a lot of their hardware beyond XP. So all of a sudden a 1 year old bit of hardware wouldn’t work on Vista because reasons.
Logitech and Creative Labs were the absolute worst for forcing proprietary tech and then refusing to support it properly.
If your website doesn’t work with non-chromium browsers your website doesn’t work.
Well, no, this is using the WebUSB most likely which is not supported by Firefox. Regardless of the security implications of the WebUSB API, this is a Firefox specific issue
I thought that you have to open a website to connect some peripheral was the issue here. You should not need a browser for that at all. The issue here is very clearly Logitech.
Well this is true only in the sense that, half the available browser engines don’t support it.
72% of users use a browser that supports this API. They’re probably all Chromium-based browsers though. https://caniuse.com/mdn-api_usb
So how long do you have left on your mouse subscription before it expires?
You gotta set up that monthly payment on your credit card!
I get this fun error:
Since I have no clue which random USB cable came with the keyboard I am locked out of the settings or updates for my 200€ keyboard.
I know Opera is Chromium based but according to statcounter Opera accounts for nearly the same % (actually slightly higher) overall desktop browser market share (Opera 4.48% : Firefox 5.96%)
Yet support for Opera but not Firefox 🗿
Disclaimer: I’m a Firefox user.
Support for Opera wasn’t a completely separate effort, it just happens to work because, like you said, it’s Chromium based. If it wasn’t, it wouldn’t be supported either…
Its because they did not had to do anything for supporting Opera. They made their app work with Chromium based browsers and Opera is happened to be one. Firefox on the other hand requires additional development to be supported.
What’s this? I’ve never seen anything like that on my Arch Linux.
Have you also built your keyboard from scratch?
I don’t get the question, because you don’t build Arch Linux from scratch either. That’d be LFS.
We live in a better world. :)
Any simple device, that should just work by plugging it into your computer, that instead demands an internet connection between you and the device… is 100% a device thats designed to steal your information/habits/etc.
because there is no reason to have the expenditure and costs of running a webservice otherwise.
it’s 100% a device that is getting returned for a full refund because it literally doesn’t work.
I own Logitech products and I while I agree it should work out of the box, it’s great you can change the connection to a different USB plug in case you lost one. Until they started providing this web app you had to install their software and it only supported Windows and OSX. On Linux, having it available through Chrome is better than before.
Sounds like a reason for a refund and a very very salty review.
Same. Can be the best keyboard/mouse around, I wouldn’t care. I’d settle for anything that works well enough but doesn’t pull this shit.
Yeah it literally doesn’t work when thats happening.
I rarely use my windows laptop for anything but a few core tasks, I swear every time I went to do anything I need to make a new account for something -i needed to log into my laptop’s inbuilt system dash then I needed to make an Nvidia account to upgrade my graphics card drivers just to play baldurs gate - which has it’s own pointless launcher which wanted me to sign up…
One day they’re going to give all the data to an AI and it’s going to say ‘why the fuck do you make people sign up for so much bullshit? None of this data is even slightly useful’ then it’ll launch all the nukes
Replace Nvidia driver installer with this, it’s much lighter and no sign up!
Oh nice yeah if I need it again I will, thanks
I recommend installing it and uninstalling Nvidia drivers, because this will auto-update for you too.
also get rid of MS Windows and use linux also helps.
This recent trend of using the browser window to handle logins and authentication is lame. Several apps that I use at work use the browser for file tracking too. You open a shared file, which opens the browser, which then opens the program with the correct file. Like what the fuck? It’s lazy and annoying. They polute your workspace with open tabs that you never wanted. If they’re going to use the browser for handling everything, then just make it a fucking web app! But nooo! You need to download our program so that we can track you, even though we actually use the browser for all of the functionality.
Browser auth is easier to dev and more secure because SSL is pre-established. Browsers tend to get security updates more often and have built in cert stores. Browsers are so central to an OS nowadays that path traversal is easier to set up, relative to individual apps.
If every application had to write this functionally, companies would have to redirect dev focus away from their core services and, most likely, would be shittier (for a number of reasons). It would also lead to more OS bloat.
On the other hand, if every app was a web app they’d be able to track you even better than they do now (at least regarding human interaction with the app itself); it’s easy to set up an outbound block on an application that isn’t a browser. On the other hand, installed apps can establish persistence. Like how Logitech does with its options software (I fucking hate this behavior btw).
- Note that I’m not disagreeing with your opinion, just trying to enrich it
I understand that they’re leveraging the browser SSL for authentication. But there are ways to do that without opening another tab inside of your browser and then just leaving it there. They could handle those calls inside of an app window that loads whatever resources they need, or makes secure CURL calls, or whatever. There are a lot of ways to implement it that would result in a better UX. Yes I agree with you, they’re saving time by doing it the way they’re doing it. But I disagree that the UX should suffer because the business management wants the engineers want to save time. There are paths that address both issues. They may require some compromise, but the end experience for the user is superior. Maybe my ideas are dated, but I have always strongly supported the belief that user experience should be one of the highest priorities when building user interfaces. I think the problem is that we now live in a world with thoroughly entrenched tech companies, so they put UX third, knowing the user has very few options.
You know you fight it? Return it. Say it doesn’t work with your system. It’s a perfectly valid reason to return a product.
Ok well as a Linux user I don’t get any of this. I connect to the keyboard with Bluetooth and it just works when you plug it in. There are no pop-ups or alerts to go to any web pages.
Just saying life is quite a bit better here in that regard.
Problem are extra funtionalities. I have a MX Mastee 3. Works perfectly on Linux, but is has a additional Button for the Thumb. Can’t be configured on Linux officially. There’s a third party script called Logiops. It sometimes work, but it’s not relieable either…
Ah yes, extra functionalities probably don’t work on Linux, thats true. I have gotten so used to that but it would be frustrating if I just bought a very expensive MX mouse of course.
I have just stopping buying those things so in a way I’m missing out, but I also don’t have to deal with this stuff. So its just pros and cons as usual.
My setup is based around Logitech Unified Receivers and my linux desktop. I use solaar for pairing, which offers more functionaliry that Logitechs own software does for Windows
Solaar is 100x better than the crappy official app.
