Security policy with Nuendo 10 download

Hello,

I recently contacted Steinberg support because I was unable to find a download for Nuendo 10, the My Steinberg section only has the installers for Nuendo 8 and Nuendo 7, not Nuendo 10 even though it’s licensed to my account.

The helpful support person said I must use the Steinberg Download Assistant to download the Nuendo 10 installer. I was on location for a week but finally was able to access some serious internet, installed the Assistant, and downloaded the 21G of Nuendo 10 installer. The issue is this -

The Steinberg Download Assistant has some concerning language that I must consent to -

“… the following data may be exchanged… information about products already installed, free disk space, geolocation (based on IP), … This data is made anonymous and is also analyzed… Without the exchange of this data, the update service cannot be used.”

I used a non-critical machine to download the installer using the Steinberg Download Assistant however I can see this as a significant problem. Most of the television facilities I work in have VERY stringent IT policies that will not allow language like this for any computers on their network, meaning the Nuendo installers must be downloaded at another location and brought it on a drive. And of course, NO EXTERNAL DRIVES that aren’t pre-approved.

With today’s studio IT policies I think Steinberg has locked themselves into a non-tenable privacy position. Why can’t I simply download an installer without giving Steinberg access to the application list on my computer?

Sincerely,
Hugh

Indeed. I had to download Nuendo 10 from home since both the studio I rent space in and the educational institution at which I teach have firewalls that block the download assistant. Pain in the arse.


Dave

That is an interesting one. My previous employer had super strict IT and would never have allowed this - we had issues with the NI installer that we had to work out a very convoluted workaround for.

Steinberg want the games industry to use Nuendo more, they are going to need to find a solution to this.

Hello,
Since the Sony hack a few years ago I don’t think most folks recognize how tight studio IT folks in Los Angeles have made things. I downloaded this installer outside the studio system because I knew it would be an issue, there’s no way they will consent to having an outside entity gather information about “…products already installed…” on a system that’s connected to their network. Especially since there’s no mention of the limitations of information gathering - what is being gathered and examined? Studios will not allow this.
Why not have a downloadable installer? That uses the MacOS Install application which sandboxes things (mostly) fine.
Hugh

Good question, why would you give anyone access to your computer, for whatever reason?
I use some crappy old laptop to download stuff.

But Steinberg harvest data on beta testers computers after every session, not just at installation.

Avid let me download anything without asking questions, or so it seems.

Download managers made sense decades ago when we were on dial-up connections that dropped often while taking hours to download because of the slow speed. Starting over was a drag. But it’s been many years since I had an issue downloading even a very large file successfully.

Data harvesting. Before it’s all over we’ll each be a battery in The Matrix.