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I build software systems which integrate a software front-end app with hardware, and I don't think I agree with the supposition that using an app to set up hard

by mmjaa 7y ago

I build software systems which integrate a software front-end app with hardware, and I don't think I agree with the supposition that using an app to set up hardware is a negative. Its just that I think that an app/hardware integration ethic definitely has a place in the world. For example, hardware which works with Apple, without allowing third-party (not even Apple) involvement, is a battle being fought. Hardware vendors should be encouraged to ensure their hardware remains useful for generations, in my opinion. Apps always go stale while the hardware remains operational. Of course: none of this forgives the vendors using it to spy on its customers. Hardware like this, anyway imho at this market, is a platform battleground. In all honesty, we have more computer vendors battling it out now, than ever before. More than likely, putting "compatible with iOS" on the box of an expensive speaker means more shelf-shopping customers. Alas, Bose and Apple probably have, at least, MFI-level involvement...

telchar 7y ago
How do you feel about a 30 page TOS and privacy policy being necessary to use said app? Something of that length tells me that the company likely wants to get a lot of data from me. Reading it is hardly necessary with the way these are typically written to be as friendly to whatever the company wants to do as possible. This is why I have never used the Bluetooth features on my QC35s. They're mostly dumb headphones to me since I won't accept their user agreement. This seems counterproductive for the company, unless they simply don't care about user privacy and expect users to roll over.
- mmjaa 7y ago
  This is why I never work in a technical capacity where I am being 'managed' by lawyers and other non-technically competent means of business org. I truly do believe, as do you, that the TOS and Warranty world is another desperate subject from where the execs/lawyers/owners of the company desire to eek every penny. There are many other realms where the TOS is simply: use the thing, have fun with it, if you want to tell us about yourself, press this button/fill in this card. For sure, consumers 'never read the TOS', because - hopefully - the device is now set up, everything works, it is time to rock .. For sure, tech can be used against the user. But it can also work for the user, too.
  - telchar 7y ago
    I think the shame of it is that 95% of most TOS's are as you said, essentially harmless or nearly harmless boilerplate. My concern is more about privacy policies which could in many cases be very short if user privacy is being respected. In either case, if I'm presented with pages upon pages of small font #888888 text, I defensively assume these is something nefarious hidden there (e.g. "we don't share any of your data with anyone except our 3rd party affiliates, marketing partners, your nosy relatives, people who claim to be law enforcement, anyone who wants to connect to our open s3 buckets, etc.") I would hope there could at least be standardized agreements developed so that I could decide which I'm okay with or not and have enough companies using them to make it worth the effort to read once. I'm thinking of various flavors of FOSS or CC licenses as an idea template.

by mmjaa 7y ago

telchar 7y ago

How do you feel about a 30 page TOS and privacy policy being necessary to use said app? Something of that length tells me that the company likely wants to get a lot of data from me. Reading it is hardly necessary with the way these are typically written to be as friendly to whatever the company wants to do as possible. This is why I have never used the Bluetooth features on my QC35s. They're mostly dumb headphones to me since I won't accept their user agreement. This seems counterproductive for the company, unless they simply don't care about user privacy and expect users to roll over.

mmjaa 7y ago
This is why I never work in a technical capacity where I am being 'managed' by lawyers and other non-technically competent means of business org. I truly do believe, as do you, that the TOS and Warranty world is another desperate subject from where the execs/lawyers/owners of the company desire to eek every penny. There are many other realms where the TOS is simply: use the thing, have fun with it, if you want to tell us about yourself, press this button/fill in this card. For sure, consumers 'never read the TOS', because - hopefully - the device is now set up, everything works, it is time to rock .. For sure, tech can be used against the user. But it can also work for the user, too.
- telchar 7y ago
  I think the shame of it is that 95% of most TOS's are as you said, essentially harmless or nearly harmless boilerplate. My concern is more about privacy policies which could in many cases be very short if user privacy is being respected. In either case, if I'm presented with pages upon pages of small font #888888 text, I defensively assume these is something nefarious hidden there (e.g. "we don't share any of your data with anyone except our 3rd party affiliates, marketing partners, your nosy relatives, people who claim to be law enforcement, anyone who wants to connect to our open s3 buckets, etc.") I would hope there could at least be standardized agreements developed so that I could decide which I'm okay with or not and have enough companies using them to make it worth the effort to read once. I'm thinking of various flavors of FOSS or CC licenses as an idea template.