It's a matter of who owns the device: me, or the company that sold it to me? Some things are better left unchangeable if the alternative is that somebody besid

It's a matter of who owns the device: me, or the company that sold it to me? Some things are better left unchangeable if the alternative is that somebody besides the owner is in charge of them. For example, suppose you had the choice between an old-fashioned mercury thermostat for your house, or a fancy programmable Honeywell thermostat that required an overpriced Honeywell technician to come out and make changes, as long as those changes were approved by the Honeywell corporation? I don't know about you, but regardless of the benefits of the new programmable thermostat, I'm not renting control of my HVAC system from the Honeywell corporation. I will be the one in charge of my home, even if that means using less flexible or out of date technology. Some people feel the same about their digital home as well.