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It's an entitled attitude, and even if those with said attitude had a valid point, it wouldn't be a particularly realistic or mature one. Any time you rely on

It's an entitled attitude, and even if those with said attitude had a valid point, it wouldn't be a particularly realistic or mature one. Any time you rely on a third party for anything, you are risking them no longer providing a service for you. In the case of a free service, you get exactly what you pay for. By the current standard, 16 years and a discount is pretty good for something that was a free offering.

ryandrake 2y ago
You're making the same mistake as others in this thread by artificially separating the "smart" service from the product. When customers buy a physical product, they're buying the whole package, and they are making the reasonable assumption that it will continue to work as-is as long as they own it. When you buy a smart thinggy attached to the Internet, the manufacturer is not graciously providing a separate free service, outside of the "real" product. It's selling the smartness as part of the whole product. They shouldn't get to later say, "Ha ha only kidding, we're now cutting features A, B, and C out of your product because we imagine them as a separate 'service'." That's bullshit.
- wannacboatmovie 2y ago
  You keep trying to redefine reality to align with your vision of perpetual free support for your $150 piece of plastic. You paid for the hardware, which still functions as a thermostat. You never paid for the app, which was free. I suggest reading through the EULA next time you click through because it very likely says they are under no obligation to provide support forever and can discontinue it at any time, and if you don't like it you can take it back to the store. <AGREE> Apple rendered my AppleTV gen 1 completely useless without warning when they decided to end support for it after much less than 16 years (in typical Apple fashion, with no announcement or plan, it just stopped working one day). No coupon, no apology, just a "fuck you, buy a new one" and I paid a heck of a lot more than $150 at the time. They've even done worse: removing music from the iTunes Store THAT I PAID FOR such that it isn't available from iCloud for download anymore, despite the whole point of iCloud being that your stuff is there forever.
  - chabes 2y ago
    Both companies are guilty of these practices. No need to defend Ecobee while using Apple as an example of why it is ok (even though it felt like “fuck you”). Regardless of license agreements (Have you actually read yours?), it’s still a shitty practice, and people are rightly upset. What upset you about the Apple tactics is somehow ok for other companies…how does that make sense?
    - wannacboatmovie 2y ago
      The Apple situation was far more egregious. There was no announcement or planned end of support (no surprise coming from Apple). One day I flipped on the TV and it no longer worked. From what I could piece together, they made a breaking change to their API and did no testing on the legacy product. Instead of doing the right thing and fixing the bug, they just said "fuck them, they get no updates". No coupon, no nothing, just a brick in my living room and forced to upgrade if I expected to stream content. And Apple, above nearly any other company, had the money and resources to throw at fixing their mistake. But they chose not to. The other distinction is the ecobee's primary purpose as a functioning thermostat isn't affected.

ryandrake 2y ago

You're making the same mistake as others in this thread by artificially separating the "smart" service from the product. When customers buy a physical product, they're buying the whole package, and they are making the reasonable assumption that it will continue to work as-is as long as they own it. When you buy a smart thinggy attached to the Internet, the manufacturer is not graciously providing a separate free service, outside of the "real" product. It's selling the smartness as part of the whole product. They shouldn't get to later say, "Ha ha only kidding, we're now cutting features A, B, and C out of your product because we imagine them as a separate 'service'." That's bullshit.

wannacboatmovie 2y ago
You keep trying to redefine reality to align with your vision of perpetual free support for your $150 piece of plastic. You paid for the hardware, which still functions as a thermostat. You never paid for the app, which was free. I suggest reading through the EULA next time you click through because it very likely says they are under no obligation to provide support forever and can discontinue it at any time, and if you don't like it you can take it back to the store. <AGREE> Apple rendered my AppleTV gen 1 completely useless without warning when they decided to end support for it after much less than 16 years (in typical Apple fashion, with no announcement or plan, it just stopped working one day). No coupon, no apology, just a "fuck you, buy a new one" and I paid a heck of a lot more than $150 at the time. They've even done worse: removing music from the iTunes Store THAT I PAID FOR such that it isn't available from iCloud for download anymore, despite the whole point of iCloud being that your stuff is there forever.
- chabes 2y ago
  Both companies are guilty of these practices. No need to defend Ecobee while using Apple as an example of why it is ok (even though it felt like “fuck you”). Regardless of license agreements (Have you actually read yours?), it’s still a shitty practice, and people are rightly upset. What upset you about the Apple tactics is somehow ok for other companies…how does that make sense?
  - wannacboatmovie 2y ago
    The Apple situation was far more egregious. There was no announcement or planned end of support (no surprise coming from Apple). One day I flipped on the TV and it no longer worked. From what I could piece together, they made a breaking change to their API and did no testing on the legacy product. Instead of doing the right thing and fixing the bug, they just said "fuck them, they get no updates". No coupon, no nothing, just a brick in my living room and forced to upgrade if I expected to stream content. And Apple, above nearly any other company, had the money and resources to throw at fixing their mistake. But they chose not to. The other distinction is the ecobee's primary purpose as a functioning thermostat isn't affected.