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At this point I assume any device which can talk IP is one firmware push away from becoming a brick in the best case and taking you hostage in the worst case.

Zigbee allows firmware upgrades, but will not take you hostage. It isn’t perfect, but I’ll take it for having a user-first design instead of ARR-first.

Yup. Same, though I've actually decided to only buy stuff that supports home assistant. I shouldn't have to depend on a corporate server at all, and especially shouldn't have to call out to an internet site just to control something local.

What really surprises me is that there are people who didn't see this coming. I mean really people, you're purchasing a device which requires an internet connection to a server you don't own.

I certainly didn't see this coming in 2014 when I paid $800+ and installed them. If they'd have said hey $5/year for each to keep them going, I'd have begrudgingly paid it and carried on...but now, Google will never get a dime from me again.

Yeah I immediately switched to a Honeywell Z-Wave thermostat as soon as I got the email that they were discontinuing them.