So, end users are now figuring out why it's bad to buy into such proprietary, closed systems. I can fully understand the outrage. Unfortunately I find that most

So, end users are now figuring out why it's bad to buy into such proprietary, closed systems. I can fully understand the outrage. Unfortunately I find that most people don't care if you warn them about such things beforehand. Any product that relies on a manufacturer-only provided online service of any kind to provide its functionality, will simply stop functioning whenever the manufacturer feels like it (or goes out of business, etc). Oh, and it will also most likely not care about your privacy, but that's a given these days. Also, any product relying on a closed-source smartphone app (using proprietary protocols to communicate with the product) will also become increasingly annoying as time passes. At some point, the app won't get updates anymore, and some time after that you'll have to keep a special old smartphone around just for the purpose of running that app. Sounds great, eh? On the other hand, many 30, 40, 50 years old electronics products still work fine today, and can be used, as they were self-contained, and wholly owned (and fixable) by the user. p.s. the fact that ageing batteries are cited as reason by Sonos also further shows what a stupid idea it is to put non-replaceable batteries into products. I really hope that regulation will finally end that practice soon.