This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
The article (which nobody here bothered to open) says they'll still function as "dumb" thermostats, so actually it's less of a big deal.
they made it online and dont want to bother actually supporting it...
so we replacing thermostats every decade and a half now?
That's why I have KNX.
AA much hate this might be getting, they're offering discounts on a new product, and 16 years is a hell of a lifetime. Imagine having to support software written in c99 maybe even c89, with some homebrew UI full of bugs.
and 16 years is a hell of a lifetime
Think about it like this: Even if the average home nowadays had only about 10 such devices (I am quite sure the average home has a lot more), that are needed for kitchen appliances, heating, warm water, window shutters, solar panels, etc to function - that means on average about once a year one of the essential functions in the house stops working unless you replace a part. Not because it's broken, but because "SW support is discontinued". Seriously, I want to smash everyones faces for those "early adopters" who think smart homes are great, and of course the companies who put software in every little component.
I'm in my house right now with a perfectly working thermostat that's 70 years old.
And given the mechanism of action it will continue working in another 70 years.
16 years for hardware used inside of homes is a ridiculously, absurdly, short lifetime. Even for a vehicle that would be pushing the edge of "too short".
That said 16-year-old software is not that old. If it's built using sane language choices it should actually be functioning and modern today.
The article says that offline functions will continue to work. So they'll just become regular thermostats.
That is true, but my smart TV and smart scale both got something like 5 years of updates. Who buys a new scale every 5 years? My parents still have a scale from the 90s that works fine.
Wtf is a smart scale?
Every time somebody steps on the scale, it identifies who they are, it logs their weight, body fat percentage etc puts it into an app for historical viewing
Most thermostats would fail in that timeframe. Our original Nest thermostat failed this year because the connection that turns on the furnace wore out or became thin. Caused our furnace to click on and off repeatedly and ruined a relay on the furnace’s circuit board. Had to replace the thermostat and the furnace circuit board. Costly repair. Upgrade your thermostat before it wears out.
My thermostat is original to our 1941 house, and has survived a fire. My mom just sold her 1989 house with a digital programmable thermostat - also original to the house -that functions perfectly.
No part of a house should wear out and break after 16 years, except MAYBE carpeting. Building things like shit is no excuse for things being shitty, it's an indictment against it!
They don’t build em like they used to
I will never understand the appeal for cloud based home automation.
All the spying aside, 16 years and your thermostat is no longer supported sounds ok until you think about how if you replace everything with cloud based equivalents you are always going to be having to replace things going out of service. I think its funny that you pay more for a device that lasts for lot less (How many thermostats have people seen fail?). I guess the companies are happy?
The appeal is remote and centralized management, easier programming and more features. If that’s not worth it to you to replace your thermostat every 16 years, then nobody is forcing you to get one.
But being able to change the temp from my phone from anywhere is worth it to me, as well as including it with other automations for all my connected devices. The appeal is honestly not hard to see, even if it’s not worth it for you personally.
You know (I hope) that that functionality does not require a cloud based service right? You are describing features for things I was playing around with 20 years ago, what you need is a program or app, not a live service. The appeal of controlling your things from your phone is not new.
No it doesn’t require it but it can make it easier. Especially for people that don’t have a robust and centralized way of controlling their smart devices, or only have 1-2 of them. I think the appeal is still obvious.
