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Comment by nicolaslem | Hacker News Reader

I am willing to bet that these features you started relying on will stop working within five years.

I'd also make that but, but only at ten years. It's unlikely but possible that the manufacturer might actually keep the backend service running for 5-10 years without it failing from incompetence or doing a deliberate rug pull. But, I'd surely bet its gone in ten years.

This highlights the need for open standards or some sort of government escrow cloud.

Or a requirement that the devices don't need the cloud. It's a dishwasher. Why does it need to be online, other than to provide data for advertising and training models? You can live without being notified your dishes are done.

I can't say I see much appeal for dishwasher being online for myself, but some people live their lives differently.

Perhaps this is a shared dishwasher in student house where time is tight (applies to clothes washer). Perhaps you want to fire it when power is cheap. Perhaps you want it to start automatically when you left house. Finally - adjusting settings is easier via phone UI or voice.

It kinda lame so many people on HN, predominantly a startup forum, have so little imagination.

I agree a better labelling should be out there tho. Cloud-free, cloud-enabled, cloud-native, etc.

All of these use cases can be achieved without requiring a manufacturer-run Internet-connected cloud service.

I don't think this is a lack of imagination. Personally, I would love network-connected appliances that could be controlled and automated over my LAN. What I (and others) object to is the unnecessary round trip through the Internet to the manufacturer's server which will inevitably become the weakest link.

If there's any imagination problem, it's on the manufacturer who can't imagine a "smart" appliance that doesn't involve inserting themselves, via the Internet, in between the user and the appliance and (often) charging a monthly service fee for this misfeature.

Yes they are achievable, but UX from normal users POV is horrible nor it's something that most people want. If it's on my smartphone then it should also work anywhere in the world. User doesn't really car how it's achieved, but it needs to be bulletproof.

“Normal” people have no idea how to make that work though. They just want an app on their phone and not to have to buy something or maintain something or check something.

We could all run our own mail servers and there’s a good reason we don’t.

They shouldn't go away in fifty years. The manufacturer should have zero say in what your device can do after you buy it, especially such pedestrian features as a rinse cycle, which has been a standard built-in feature of dishwashers for decades. There is nothing about a rinse cycle that demands a tether to the manufacturer.

I really don't understand why these trash devices are so popular. Is the average person really clueless enough that they'll buy into all this shit just so they can use an app to control their shit? And if so, why is the carrot of extreme convenience enough for people to literally give up control of their hardware to the manufacturer?

I hope this shit get hacked ten ways to Sunday. Fuck these rent-seeking bastards. Hacking is the one true equalizer. Unlicensed bread indeed.

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