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#3 Home automation devices that require communication with the vendor's servers in order to setup and or operate. Vendors come and go, but if I've bought a pro

#3 Home automation devices that require communication with the vendor's servers in order to setup and or operate. Vendors come and go, but if I've bought a product, I expect it to work until the product dies. And I don't consider the vendor going out of business to be a valid product death. Not to mention if I'm paying a one-time-fee, and this thing requires communication with vendor servers, that's a service. Who's paying for the servers? I agree, current user interfaces suck, but I think at least for some vendors that may miss the point. If they publish a full-featured API you could write your own interface, and or integrate it with your home automation control system. I agree, standards need to exist, but I try to reward the vendors who provide an API over the ones who don't cause at least I can work with an API. And honestly, looking at the result of vendors trying to produce "smart" TVs, I don't want them writing the software that runs my home automation system. I'd prefer a FOSS home automation solution over a vendor one any day, and wouldn't buy one that didn't at a minimum include the source code.

dangerlibrary 12y ago
Offline products without subscriptions go against two base principles of the current tech investment boom (bubble?). The first the that recurring revenue is strictly better than one-off sales. That means VCs aren't interested in business models that don't end in "aaS". The second is the emphasis on iteration - making users connect back regularly allows for automatic updates that allow you to ship buggy software and fix it later.
- click170 12y ago
  I would understand if they did offer a service that you could subscribe to, but I've seen devices that are one off purchases that require live server access. That just doesn't make sense to me aside from your point about updates.

dangerlibrary 12y ago

Offline products without subscriptions go against two base principles of the current tech investment boom (bubble?). The first the that recurring revenue is strictly better than one-off sales. That means VCs aren't interested in business models that don't end in "aaS". The second is the emphasis on iteration - making users connect back regularly allows for automatic updates that allow you to ship buggy software and fix it later.

click170 12y ago
I would understand if they did offer a service that you could subscribe to, but I've seen devices that are one off purchases that require live server access. That just doesn't make sense to me aside from your point about updates.