> I don't understand the desire for something like Alexa eitherWhat people value them for varies. I had smart bulbs anyway (so I can vary between soft low light for watching TV and bright white for crafting, etc) and a compatible remotely control able heating control, I wanted to be even lazier than needing to pick up my phone to change things, and a pair of them were dirt cheap in an offer. Setting of timing reminders in the kitchen is pretty handy too. I don't use them for much else them that though. Occasionally I'll have an audiobook play that way via Audible, but the speaker isn't great for music.
I looked into open source variants for simple home automation like this. I look back every now and then and, while things are improving at a pace, it still seems like a chore to setup and potentially flaky (not that Amazon devices don't need resetting almost monthly because they are a bit flaky too) and more expensive in terms of getting good microphones/speakers/etc together.
[All the above would apply the same would to Google's offering; I went with Echo devices because they were cheap at a time that my wallet control was weak, and you can call them “computer” rather than “brand-name”]