Editing Razer (section)

==Controversies==

===Razer Synapse===
Razer peripherals require the application '''Synapse''' for most configuration of such things such as mouse resolution, [[backlighting]] and keyboard macros.
Synapse 2 had been available for [[macOS]] while newer peripherals require Synapse 3 which is for [[Microsoft Windows]] only.

Synapse stores profiles on an Internet "cloud" server, and requires the user to log in to an account for full functionality of their peripherals.
Synapse has received a lot of criticism for being a "cloud" application. Not only because of nuisance of having to log in often, but also because it would have the sort of issues with security, availability and privacy that often plague cloud applications.
Current revisions of Synapse 3 allows locally stored profiles and a "Guest mode" to bypass the login.

Synapse has been criticised for its size, both on disk and its memory consumption.
It also has a reputation of not being stable: either that servers go down, causing the application to not function properly, or that the application often crashes.

Synapse has also been criticised for absurd amounts of network traffic.<ref name="redditsynapse3data">Razer subreddit on Reddit—[https://www.reddit.com/r/razer/comments/j2kby6/razer_central_service_is_killing_my_internet/ Razer Central Service is killing my internet]. Thread started 2020-09-30</ref>

===Razer SoftMiner and Gamma===
On Dec 12, 2018, Razer announced ''Razer SoftMiner'', in partnership with ''GammaNow''.
It was a cryptocurrency mining<ref group="footnote" name="cryptomining">Cryptocurrency mining consists of a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brute-force_attack brute force attack] against a cryptographic hash, with rewards in new currency given to whomever does it first. Cryptocurrency mining have been accused of wasting unnecessary power (spending natural resources and producing greenhouse gases) and inflating the price of graphics cards.</ref> program that users could run on their computers in return for "Razer Silver"—a store credit to use in Razer's store.<ref name="twitter_razersilver">Razer on Twitter—[https://twitter.com/Razer/status/1072853584021118977 6:00 am - 12 Dec 2018]. Dated 2018-12-12. Retrieved 2018-12-14</ref>.
In August 2019, the SoftMiner app was discontinued in favour of the app Gamma, still associated with Razer and Razer Silver, but run by GammaNow.

Early SoftMiner apps mined<ref group="footnote" name="cryptomining"/> [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethereum Etherium] for GammaNow, for which Razer got compensation<ref name="vicesm">Vice—[https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/9k48k7/razer-wants-gamers-to-mine-cryptocurrency-for-store-credit Razer Wants Gamers to Mine Cryptocurrency for Store Credit], by Jordan Pearson. Dated 2018-12-12. Retrieved 2020-08-17</ref>.
Later versions of SoftMiner and Gamma installed not only "ethminer.exe" (for Etherium) but also "ccminer.exe", "nhegminer.exe" and "sgminer.exe". The names of the added programs match open-source miners for cryptocurrencies Zcoin and Zcash.
All of these programs are flagged by many anti-virus programs as malware, which is why there are official guides for SoftMiner <ref name="softminerav">Razer—[https://assets2.razerzone.com/pages/softminer/Razer-SoftMiner-Anti-virus.pdf How to Configure Anti-Virus to Permit SoftMiner Binaries]. Retrieved 2020-08-17</ref> and Gamma<ref name="gammaav">Gamma—[https://assets.website-files.com/5ade1d862a63e78c4f47b2ba/5dc13054537745c266af84a6_Gamma%20-%20Config%20AV%20to%20Permit%20Gamma%20(20191105).pdf How to Configure Anti-Virus to Permit Gamma Binaries]. From [https://www.gammanow.com/faq Gamma FAQ] on gammanow.com. Retrieved 2020-08-17</ref> on how to whitelist them in anti-virus software.

The SoftMiner app had been bundled as an optional install with ''Razer Cortex'': a program that tweaks [[Microsoft Windows]] to provide more system resources to games while gaming<ref name="TechRadarCortex19>TechRadar—[https://www.techradar.com/reviews/razer-cortex Razer Cortex review]. Dated 2019-07-23.</ref>. Razer Cortex has been an optional install with Razer Synapse.

When it was introduced, critics quickly noted several issues.
Each unit of Razer Silver expires after 12 months, which makes many things impossible to earn.
The cost of electricity used for mining could cost three-four times than the value of the store credit, not to mention devaluing the equipment faster because of increased wear.<ref name="zdnet18">ZNet—[https://www.zdnet.com/article/razer-faces-backlash-after-asking-gamers-to-mine-cryptocurrency-for-rewards/ Razer faces backlash after asking gamers to mine cryptocurrency for rewards]. by Charlie Osborne. Dated 2018-12-13.</ref>

===Misleading marketing===
Razer's official marketing sometimes uses established terms in wrong or ambiguous ways compared to established convention within the industry.
* "Membrane" to mean [[rubber dome]], not [[membrane keyboard]].
* "Anti-ghosting" to refer to avoiding [[blocking]] of keys as a result of multiple simultaneous key presses, when [[anti-ghosting]] actually means to avoid ''unintended key activation'' as a result of multiple simultaneous key presses. ([[Blocking]] is ''a type of'' anti-ghosting)
* Claiming 10-key or 14-key [[Rollover,_blocking_and_ghosting#Interface-limited NKRO|interface-limited rollover]] over the [[USB]] when supporting only up to 6 arbitrary keys + four types of modifier keys ([[Control key|Control]],[[Shift key|Shift]],[[Alt key|Alt]],[[Windows key|Windows]]). The industry convention is to count the smallest possible combination of arbitrary keys: which in this case is "6-key rollover".

Razer is one of the brands that has a "[[mecha-membrane]]" keyboard product: the [[Razer Ornata]]. It was touted as the "best of both worlds of [[Mechanical keyboard|mechanical]] and [[Rubber dome|&#91;rubber dome&#93;]]"<ref group="footnote">The word "membrane" had been misused to mean "rubber dome" in this case.</ref>.
It is in fact a [[rubber dome]] keyboard with dedicated clickers to only make additional noise like [[clicky]] mechanical keyboards.