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Comment by herbstein | Hacker News Reader

As the GGP said, the menu can be exited without updating by scrolling down. The interface isn't intuitive, but it's not a hard block.

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Agree, but I think there are a number of us that don't want a menu that needs exiting on our dishwasher.

Sure, but that's a separate issue from title accuracy.

Then don't purchase a smart dishwasher. I won't be purchasing one either, nor will I purchase a smart microwave or a host of other smart appliances. The person who made the tweet, made the exact opposite decision AND connected their appliance to the internet.

If the UI does not make clear the actions you are allowed to perform, it isn't letting you do something.

Eh. I'm not saying that bad or deceptive UI isn't something worth talking about, but I think there is a really tangible difference between something being difficult to find and being impossible to do.

In some contexts, sure. There's a step change between an appliance doing this--where you are expected to have limited capabilities--and something like a general-purpose computer doing this.

An appliance going "nope, I have one path for this" is, tbh, to be expected. A dishwasher washes dishes, and the idea that there is a secret-sauce way to tell it to do something it isn't actively presenting to you is not something a reasonable person is going to expect. It's why my dishwasher has like eight buttons on the top--it enumerates everything it can do. So if that appliance is hiding its verbs, then a reasonable person is going to assume it doesn't have any.

But what about not needing to do a software update when all I want is to wash dishes?

It would be best if most machines didn't talk to us, at all. Press a button: it runs. Nothing more.

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