10 ms·

Updates to Works with Nest

129 points by 9nGQluzmnq3M 7y ago

jasonhansel 7y ago
To be honest, I find it depressing that people needed to protest and complain en masse just to get permission to continue using devices they already own.
chris_wot 7y ago
That's interesting - Google haven't traditionally "listened" to their end users so far as I can see. This seems to be in the grand Google tradition of moving the carpet from under users' feet.
tomrod 7y ago
This seems like a positive developmental, though still a bit like a one-sided negotiation. In HN's thoughts, how should Google have approached this? (I do not work with or for Google in any capacity).
- rswail 7y ago
  Like a car company with a 7 year warranty, with a guarantee of support for parts for the life of the house. Google have a responsibility to their customers. In this case, the customers are the people that actually buy the hardware. It's not "Temperature As A Service".
  - cube00 7y ago
    Or Nexus phones, completely turned their back on security updates after three years while the hardware is still working.
  - eitally 7y ago
    FWIW, Philips just did something even worse with their Hue system, essentially forcing "legacy" (v1) Hue customers to spend $50 to buy a v2 Bridge if they wanted the system to keep working as usual. Coincidentally, this was a few years after they backpedaled on a decision to disallow control of non-Hue bulbs (https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2015/12/12/philips-hue-blocks-3rd-party-bulbs/ https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2015/12/12/philips-hue-bl...) after public outcry.
    - nitrogen 7y ago
      I haven't used a v2 bridge, but v1 bridge I have is horribly slow and underpowered. I'm more annoyed by the API changes they've made over time that broke my integration with the bridge. At least there is a local LAN integration option though, and you aren't forced to integrate with a remote service that might be shut down unexpectedly.
- alttab 7y ago
  I think Google just realized the path they were taking was too short. They underestimated the nest contingent which is funny considering how much data they collect. It seems like product management and engineering wanted to do it quickly and didn't do enough customer homework. Then they had to backtrack, still sounding like douches because of their "if we change our minds we will keep you informed" tidbit. I'm genuinely curious about their Alexa support through the transition. Seems they are willing to give away customers who want nest and nothing else.
  - shakna 7y ago
    > For these custom integrations, partners will undergo security audits and we’ll control what data is shared and how it can be used. It sounds like they're going to keep a tight control of their relationship with Amazon on this one - I imagine the negotiations are going to be extremely tedious.
- mikeash 7y ago
  They should keep the old API working.
- josteink 7y ago
  > In HN's thoughts, how should Google have approached this? Google/Nest created an API for developers to use with an associated slogan to for marketing if end-user devices which people buy with a 10+ year plan of ownership because it’s built into their bloody homes. That obligates Google to keep this stuff working for 10+ years, as is, no weasel words. No exceptions. Anything else is a scam. Edit: looking at Google’s history they clearly don’t have the intention nor ability to do this. Im not buying anything Nest/Google Assistant ever. I’m not interested in time-bombed devices.
dschuler 7y ago
I'm surprised anyone still runs their business on a Google dependency. I was trying to use Google maps for Android ca. 2012 - they acknowledged the bugs I filed a few months ago. If a Google product is a dependency of your business, you must get ready for a potential change or switch out said dependency. E.g. Crashlytics for a more recent example.
- panpanna 7y ago
  This is very true. Google is not a reliable partner. Update: consumers realized this years ago. This is why Google has to announce messaging apps two at a time and cancel them next year. This is why Microsoft products are so extremely popular on Android.
  - cbsks 7y ago
    A partner isn’t a partner unless you have a signed contract
    - panpanna 7y ago
      Oh, there is a contract. It's just very one-sided.
      - hedora 7y ago
        Indeed it is one sided. I wonder if the courts will agree this applies to content that web servers transmit to google’s crawler. If so, can I add such an agreement to my homepage, and claim it applies to all the http requests I initiate?: > When you upload, submit, store, send or receive content to or through our Services, you give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes we make so that your content works better with our Services), communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content. The rights you grant in this license are for the limited purpose of operating, promoting, and improving our Services, and to develop new ones. This license continues even if you stop using our Services (for example, for a business listing you have added to Google Maps). Some Services may offer you ways to access and remove content that has been provided to that Service. Also, in some of our Services, there are terms or settings that narrow the scope of our use of the content submitted in those Services. Make sure you have the necessary rights to grant us this license for any content that you submit to our Services.
eyeareque 7y ago
More like: “We heard your lawyers”
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
FluffyKitty 7y ago
Heh. Someone should have reconsidered that title given the recent controversy with Nest devices having hidden microphones.
skywhopper 7y ago
“Moving forward, we’ll deliver a single consumer and developer experience through the Google Assistant.” ...until 18 months from now when the Android team has more political sway and we announce “Android Home”, a new unified home automation platform to bring all your devices together in one easy to use system, which will allow you to turn your lights off by simply blinking into one of the many Google cameras mounted in your home. This will be followed in 2022 with the new “Chrome@Home” platform, which will revolutionize home automation by letting you send and receive Morse code messagess with your neighbors via innovative light-turning-off-and-on technology. Finally, in 2025 we will announce the revolutionary “GoogleOne” home automation system which will allow you to set minimum reading-light thresholds for your teenage children who insist on reading in too-dark rooms simply by yelling “how can you even read in this room?? You’ll go blind if you don’t turn on a light!!” while standing in the appropriate room of your home.
- jdavis703 7y ago
  On the consumer side Google wants to build billion user products (I’ve heard Google product managers say this). Products that cross that threshold like GMail, Chrome and Android don’t get cancelled. I’m not sure what the enterprise equivalent is to a billion users, perhaps a billion dollars? Regardless offerings like Google App Engine have been around for decades now.
- panpanna 7y ago
  This is Google we are taking about. If anything, some of these products will overlap in time causing great confusion.
  - da_chicken 7y ago
    And the only one that ever leaves beta will be terminated 18 months later. Sorry Google, I need my house to work for the next 30+ years. Honeywell sucks, but they at least understand that.
- ravenstine 7y ago
  I've seen this same satire about Google multiple times on HN, and have made the same point before myself; I'm curious how many Google employees understand why more and more people are seeing Google's product lines as a joke in that sense. Google makes working software and devices, but does anyone feel like they can count on Google for anything? It seems like few do at this point, and it's mystifying that the higher ups at Google don't seem interested in addressing that perception unless enough people complain, despite the dissatisfaction being totally predictable. I really wonder whether, if someone with any clout at Google read your comment, they would get the joke or not understand.
shakna 7y ago
> We’ll stop accepting new WWN connections on August 31, 2019. > One of the most popular WWN features is to automatically trigger routines based on Home/Away status. Later this year, we'll bring that same functionality to the Google Assistant and provide more device options for you to choose from. I'm sorry, but... What? You're sorry that you've caught developers and users by surprise, but the main functionality that they want won't appear until some unknown time in the future? And they should just trust you that this will actually happen after you yanked the carpet out from under them once already?
- ElFitz 7y ago
  > Later this year, we'll bring that same functionality... Coming from the company that promised geoqueries on Firestore two years ago but still hasn't delivered "Google. Don't believe a single word"
  - nickflood 7y ago
    Don't believil
  - lokedhs 7y ago
    Coming from a company that promised an API to post to G+, did nothing for years and then shut the entire service down. Background: I was the author of a mildly popular Google Buzz client.
- lifeformed 7y ago
  > You're sorry that you've caught developers and users by surprise Woah, woah, woah, hold up, I don't recall reading they said they were sorry at all.
- hysan 7y ago
  This coming from the company that removed the YouTube subscription collections feature promising they’d replace it with something better 4+ years ago.[1] Of course I’m still waiting on that promise to be fulfilled. [1]: https://support.google.com/youtube/forum/AAAAiuErobUSpDf7fr3uwE/?hl=en&gpf=%23!topic%2Fyoutube%2FSpDf7fr3uwE https://support.google.com/youtube/forum/AAAAiuErobUSpDf7fr3...
blinky1456 7y ago
Offtopic, but...is it just me or is there a bug on the 'hide related artices' button? Pressing space while focused on it triggers the action twice. So it just opens/closes.
richjdsmith 7y ago
Too little too late. Google says this today, until they change their mind 18 month from now - as Google does.
deogeo 7y ago
Can someone explain for those of us unfamiliar with the many Google products and services: do they "hear" us in the sense that they will allow users to run their own servers for these IoT things, or will they keep users locked in, and will merely support some platform for a little longer?
- taormina 7y ago
  I think definitely not #1 (make open) and almost certainly #2 (keep alive for now). This is a direct response to the entire Nest integration ecosystem going "what?!" after basically being told they were getting shut off.
- shakna 7y ago
  "Works with Nest" is getting extended to the end of August, and Google might help some people move over to the Google Assistant powered platform that will replace it. Just a slightly more reasonable timeline for switchover, but still Assistant-based.
acidburnNSA 7y ago
I don't trust advertising companies with more intimate data about things inside my home. A phone and computers is bad enough. Fortunately there's a good solution for me (today) and for everyone (hopefully soon). Home Assistant [1] has been a Github-topping repo for a while. You've seen it here on HN several times [2]. It's a Python 3 open-source home automation platform that runs on a Raspberry Pi or other home server. Local data, local control. It's been being bootstrapped by tinkerers who can handle YAML config files for a while but is getting much fancier these days. When Google shut down Revolv hubs in 2016, they posted rationale about why your hub should be open and local [3]. This kind of move further justifies the argument. As big companies clamor over access to your home, let's take a stand by demanding open standards, local data options, and local control. [1] https://www.home-assistant.io/ https://www.home-assistant.io/ [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15521743 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15521743 [3] https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2016/04/05/your-hub-should-be-local-and-open/ https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2016/04/05/your-hub-shoul... [4] https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2018/09/17/thinking-big/ https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2018/09/17/thinking-big/
- joelhaasnoot 7y ago
  One of the tough things about open source software and especially HomeAssistant (long time user here!) is that HomeAssistant connects to many services, a lot of which use some sort of oAuth protocol, which in turn requires a client key/client secret, which can't be embedded in the software. For Nest, it requires every installation/user to create a new key/application with Nest/Google, for what in many ways is the same software. There must be a better way - in the end all that's being given back is a client key which is used in the actual authentication.
  - mindslight 7y ago
    Another way of looking at it is that the problem is better attributed to OAuth / centralized web services. Nest/Google is responsible for making you go through that developer rigmarole to simply use your device. Next time, choose hardware with a better user experience! Both perspectives have their validity of course. Your description is more applicable to someone interested in moving to Home Assistant after already having bought a bunch of proprietary devices. These network effects are exactly why it's so damn important that open protocols and projects are adopted and become standard, rather than these dead end "service" worlds of Google et al.
craftinator 7y ago
The "We hear you" portion of this just screams "devised by the same marketing team that handled BP's oil scandal". Just talk straight Google, you'll get less hate for it.
steven2012 7y ago
Google has become a big horrible disaster. I'm extremely disappointed in what is going on these days. I am a heavy user of Nest (7 cameras, other accessories). I've fully bought into the ecosystem. I literally have no idea what's going on. It sounds to me who is only casually paying attention that they're killing off Nest and the Nest brand. Whether that may or may not be true, they need to understand the perception of their actions to their users. Do they really expect most people to say "Okay, I need to spend 10 minutes and read through exactly what this all means." Now I'm left with the dreaded feeling that my Dropcams and Nestcams will no longer work in the near future. Google has really damaged their brand because I no longer consider them reliable. If I buy a brand that is associated with Google, I expect that it will get changed in the next year or so into something that I can't comprehend or don't want, and it makes me want to search for alternatives. I don't want to "merge" my accouns with Google Home. I want to keep my single account on Nest like I have for many years now, and I just want alerts and to be able to see my cameras. All this other nonsense that they're trying to pull me into is not what I want as a consumer, and it upsets me that Google is becoming this kind of company. They are in many ways worse than Microsoft was at their worst. Before Microsoft used to be a monopoly on the desktop, but Google is now turning into a monopoly in my entire life. Meanwhile, Nest has been dormant for most of its existence, releasing only a few features. But in terms of cameras it's the most reliable which is why I stick with it. But there are so many opportunities for them to improve this service and it feels abandoned. Instead of adding features, like animal detection or car detection, they are worried about how I log in or who my account is? That's just stupid.
- mulmen 7y ago
  What exactly did you expect from the world’s largest advertising company? Consumers are Google’s product. They always have been.
- louky 7y ago
  I refuse to buy google hardware after the horrible mess they made with their tablets, My first Gen Nexus 7 died due to hardware failure and they refused to admit or fix it, then I bought a second gen and the last firmware update bricked it. Such Garbage https://appleinsider.com/articles/13/06/18/googles-nexus-7-tablets-dying-early-possibly-due-to-cheap-memory https://appleinsider.com/articles/13/06/18/googles-nexus-7-t...
pfortuny 7y ago
Unbelievable public-relations megacorporation bullshit full of clichés and topical weasel words. Really google, if this is you hearing people, I prefer talking to the European Parliament. At least they do jot hide their politics.
zenexer 7y ago
When I read the title, I was expecting a very different article. The title says, “we hear you,” and the article says, “we’re not going to listen.”

129 points by 9nGQluzmnq3M 7y ago

To be honest, I find it depressing that people needed to protest and complain en masse just to get permission to continue using devices they already own.

chris_wot 7y ago

That's interesting - Google haven't traditionally "listened" to their end users so far as I can see. This seems to be in the grand Google tradition of moving the carpet from under users' feet.

tomrod 7y ago

This seems like a positive developmental, though still a bit like a one-sided negotiation. In HN's thoughts, how should Google have approached this? (I do not work with or for Google in any capacity).

rswail 7y ago
Like a car company with a 7 year warranty, with a guarantee of support for parts for the life of the house. Google have a responsibility to their customers. In this case, the customers are the people that actually buy the hardware. It's not "Temperature As A Service".
- cube00 7y ago
  Or Nexus phones, completely turned their back on security updates after three years while the hardware is still working.
- eitally 7y ago
  FWIW, Philips just did something even worse with their Hue system, essentially forcing "legacy" (v1) Hue customers to spend $50 to buy a v2 Bridge if they wanted the system to keep working as usual. Coincidentally, this was a few years after they backpedaled on a decision to disallow control of non-Hue bulbs (https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2015/12/12/philips-hue-blocks-3rd-party-bulbs/ https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2015/12/12/philips-hue-bl...) after public outcry.
  - nitrogen 7y ago
    I haven't used a v2 bridge, but v1 bridge I have is horribly slow and underpowered. I'm more annoyed by the API changes they've made over time that broke my integration with the bridge. At least there is a local LAN integration option though, and you aren't forced to integrate with a remote service that might be shut down unexpectedly.
alttab 7y ago
I think Google just realized the path they were taking was too short. They underestimated the nest contingent which is funny considering how much data they collect. It seems like product management and engineering wanted to do it quickly and didn't do enough customer homework. Then they had to backtrack, still sounding like douches because of their "if we change our minds we will keep you informed" tidbit. I'm genuinely curious about their Alexa support through the transition. Seems they are willing to give away customers who want nest and nothing else.
- shakna 7y ago
  > For these custom integrations, partners will undergo security audits and we’ll control what data is shared and how it can be used. It sounds like they're going to keep a tight control of their relationship with Amazon on this one - I imagine the negotiations are going to be extremely tedious.
mikeash 7y ago
They should keep the old API working.
josteink 7y ago
> In HN's thoughts, how should Google have approached this? Google/Nest created an API for developers to use with an associated slogan to for marketing if end-user devices which people buy with a 10+ year plan of ownership because it’s built into their bloody homes. That obligates Google to keep this stuff working for 10+ years, as is, no weasel words. No exceptions. Anything else is a scam. Edit: looking at Google’s history they clearly don’t have the intention nor ability to do this. Im not buying anything Nest/Google Assistant ever. I’m not interested in time-bombed devices.

dschuler 7y ago

I'm surprised anyone still runs their business on a Google dependency. I was trying to use Google maps for Android ca. 2012 - they acknowledged the bugs I filed a few months ago. If a Google product is a dependency of your business, you must get ready for a potential change or switch out said dependency. E.g. Crashlytics for a more recent example.

panpanna 7y ago
This is very true. Google is not a reliable partner. Update: consumers realized this years ago. This is why Google has to announce messaging apps two at a time and cancel them next year. This is why Microsoft products are so extremely popular on Android.
- cbsks 7y ago
  A partner isn’t a partner unless you have a signed contract
  - panpanna 7y ago
    Oh, there is a contract. It's just very one-sided.
    - hedora 7y ago
      Indeed it is one sided. I wonder if the courts will agree this applies to content that web servers transmit to google’s crawler. If so, can I add such an agreement to my homepage, and claim it applies to all the http requests I initiate?: > When you upload, submit, store, send or receive content to or through our Services, you give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes we make so that your content works better with our Services), communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content. The rights you grant in this license are for the limited purpose of operating, promoting, and improving our Services, and to develop new ones. This license continues even if you stop using our Services (for example, for a business listing you have added to Google Maps). Some Services may offer you ways to access and remove content that has been provided to that Service. Also, in some of our Services, there are terms or settings that narrow the scope of our use of the content submitted in those Services. Make sure you have the necessary rights to grant us this license for any content that you submit to our Services.

eyeareque 7y ago

More like: “We heard your lawyers”

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

FluffyKitty 7y ago

Heh. Someone should have reconsidered that title given the recent controversy with Nest devices having hidden microphones.

skywhopper 7y ago

“Moving forward, we’ll deliver a single consumer and developer experience through the Google Assistant.” ...until 18 months from now when the Android team has more political sway and we announce “Android Home”, a new unified home automation platform to bring all your devices together in one easy to use system, which will allow you to turn your lights off by simply blinking into one of the many Google cameras mounted in your home. This will be followed in 2022 with the new “Chrome@Home” platform, which will revolutionize home automation by letting you send and receive Morse code messagess with your neighbors via innovative light-turning-off-and-on technology. Finally, in 2025 we will announce the revolutionary “GoogleOne” home automation system which will allow you to set minimum reading-light thresholds for your teenage children who insist on reading in too-dark rooms simply by yelling “how can you even read in this room?? You’ll go blind if you don’t turn on a light!!” while standing in the appropriate room of your home.

jdavis703 7y ago
On the consumer side Google wants to build billion user products (I’ve heard Google product managers say this). Products that cross that threshold like GMail, Chrome and Android don’t get cancelled. I’m not sure what the enterprise equivalent is to a billion users, perhaps a billion dollars? Regardless offerings like Google App Engine have been around for decades now.
panpanna 7y ago
This is Google we are taking about. If anything, some of these products will overlap in time causing great confusion.
- da_chicken 7y ago
  And the only one that ever leaves beta will be terminated 18 months later. Sorry Google, I need my house to work for the next 30+ years. Honeywell sucks, but they at least understand that.
ravenstine 7y ago
I've seen this same satire about Google multiple times on HN, and have made the same point before myself; I'm curious how many Google employees understand why more and more people are seeing Google's product lines as a joke in that sense. Google makes working software and devices, but does anyone feel like they can count on Google for anything? It seems like few do at this point, and it's mystifying that the higher ups at Google don't seem interested in addressing that perception unless enough people complain, despite the dissatisfaction being totally predictable. I really wonder whether, if someone with any clout at Google read your comment, they would get the joke or not understand.

shakna 7y ago

> We’ll stop accepting new WWN connections on August 31, 2019. > One of the most popular WWN features is to automatically trigger routines based on Home/Away status. Later this year, we'll bring that same functionality to the Google Assistant and provide more device options for you to choose from. I'm sorry, but... What? You're sorry that you've caught developers and users by surprise, but the main functionality that they want won't appear until some unknown time in the future? And they should just trust you that this will actually happen after you yanked the carpet out from under them once already?

ElFitz 7y ago
> Later this year, we'll bring that same functionality... Coming from the company that promised geoqueries on Firestore two years ago but still hasn't delivered "Google. Don't believe a single word"
- nickflood 7y ago
  Don't believil
- lokedhs 7y ago
  Coming from a company that promised an API to post to G+, did nothing for years and then shut the entire service down. Background: I was the author of a mildly popular Google Buzz client.
lifeformed 7y ago
> You're sorry that you've caught developers and users by surprise Woah, woah, woah, hold up, I don't recall reading they said they were sorry at all.
hysan 7y ago
This coming from the company that removed the YouTube subscription collections feature promising they’d replace it with something better 4+ years ago.[1] Of course I’m still waiting on that promise to be fulfilled. [1]: https://support.google.com/youtube/forum/AAAAiuErobUSpDf7fr3uwE/?hl=en&gpf=%23!topic%2Fyoutube%2FSpDf7fr3uwE https://support.google.com/youtube/forum/AAAAiuErobUSpDf7fr3...

blinky1456 7y ago

Offtopic, but...is it just me or is there a bug on the 'hide related artices' button? Pressing space while focused on it triggers the action twice. So it just opens/closes.

richjdsmith 7y ago

Too little too late. Google says this today, until they change their mind 18 month from now - as Google does.

deogeo 7y ago

Can someone explain for those of us unfamiliar with the many Google products and services: do they "hear" us in the sense that they will allow users to run their own servers for these IoT things, or will they keep users locked in, and will merely support some platform for a little longer?

taormina 7y ago
I think definitely not #1 (make open) and almost certainly #2 (keep alive for now). This is a direct response to the entire Nest integration ecosystem going "what?!" after basically being told they were getting shut off.
shakna 7y ago
"Works with Nest" is getting extended to the end of August, and Google might help some people move over to the Google Assistant powered platform that will replace it. Just a slightly more reasonable timeline for switchover, but still Assistant-based.

acidburnNSA 7y ago

I don't trust advertising companies with more intimate data about things inside my home. A phone and computers is bad enough. Fortunately there's a good solution for me (today) and for everyone (hopefully soon). Home Assistant [1] has been a Github-topping repo for a while. You've seen it here on HN several times [2]. It's a Python 3 open-source home automation platform that runs on a Raspberry Pi or other home server. Local data, local control. It's been being bootstrapped by tinkerers who can handle YAML config files for a while but is getting much fancier these days. When Google shut down Revolv hubs in 2016, they posted rationale about why your hub should be open and local [3]. This kind of move further justifies the argument. As big companies clamor over access to your home, let's take a stand by demanding open standards, local data options, and local control. [1] https://www.home-assistant.io/ https://www.home-assistant.io/ [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15521743 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15521743 [3] https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2016/04/05/your-hub-should-be-local-and-open/ https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2016/04/05/your-hub-shoul... [4] https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2018/09/17/thinking-big/ https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2018/09/17/thinking-big/

joelhaasnoot 7y ago
One of the tough things about open source software and especially HomeAssistant (long time user here!) is that HomeAssistant connects to many services, a lot of which use some sort of oAuth protocol, which in turn requires a client key/client secret, which can't be embedded in the software. For Nest, it requires every installation/user to create a new key/application with Nest/Google, for what in many ways is the same software. There must be a better way - in the end all that's being given back is a client key which is used in the actual authentication.
- mindslight 7y ago
  Another way of looking at it is that the problem is better attributed to OAuth / centralized web services. Nest/Google is responsible for making you go through that developer rigmarole to simply use your device. Next time, choose hardware with a better user experience! Both perspectives have their validity of course. Your description is more applicable to someone interested in moving to Home Assistant after already having bought a bunch of proprietary devices. These network effects are exactly why it's so damn important that open protocols and projects are adopted and become standard, rather than these dead end "service" worlds of Google et al.

craftinator 7y ago

The "We hear you" portion of this just screams "devised by the same marketing team that handled BP's oil scandal". Just talk straight Google, you'll get less hate for it.

steven2012 7y ago

Google has become a big horrible disaster. I'm extremely disappointed in what is going on these days. I am a heavy user of Nest (7 cameras, other accessories). I've fully bought into the ecosystem. I literally have no idea what's going on. It sounds to me who is only casually paying attention that they're killing off Nest and the Nest brand. Whether that may or may not be true, they need to understand the perception of their actions to their users. Do they really expect most people to say "Okay, I need to spend 10 minutes and read through exactly what this all means." Now I'm left with the dreaded feeling that my Dropcams and Nestcams will no longer work in the near future. Google has really damaged their brand because I no longer consider them reliable. If I buy a brand that is associated with Google, I expect that it will get changed in the next year or so into something that I can't comprehend or don't want, and it makes me want to search for alternatives. I don't want to "merge" my accouns with Google Home. I want to keep my single account on Nest like I have for many years now, and I just want alerts and to be able to see my cameras. All this other nonsense that they're trying to pull me into is not what I want as a consumer, and it upsets me that Google is becoming this kind of company. They are in many ways worse than Microsoft was at their worst. Before Microsoft used to be a monopoly on the desktop, but Google is now turning into a monopoly in my entire life. Meanwhile, Nest has been dormant for most of its existence, releasing only a few features. But in terms of cameras it's the most reliable which is why I stick with it. But there are so many opportunities for them to improve this service and it feels abandoned. Instead of adding features, like animal detection or car detection, they are worried about how I log in or who my account is? That's just stupid.

mulmen 7y ago
What exactly did you expect from the world’s largest advertising company? Consumers are Google’s product. They always have been.
louky 7y ago
I refuse to buy google hardware after the horrible mess they made with their tablets, My first Gen Nexus 7 died due to hardware failure and they refused to admit or fix it, then I bought a second gen and the last firmware update bricked it. Such Garbage https://appleinsider.com/articles/13/06/18/googles-nexus-7-tablets-dying-early-possibly-due-to-cheap-memory https://appleinsider.com/articles/13/06/18/googles-nexus-7-t...

pfortuny 7y ago

Unbelievable public-relations megacorporation bullshit full of clichés and topical weasel words. Really google, if this is you hearing people, I prefer talking to the European Parliament. At least they do jot hide their politics.

zenexer 7y ago

When I read the title, I was expecting a very different article. The title says, “we hear you,” and the article says, “we’re not going to listen.”