Google announced the end of support for early Nest Thermostats in a support document earlier this year that largely flew under the radar. As of October 25, first and second generation units released in 2011 and 2012, respectively, will be unpaired and removed from the Google Nest or Google Home app.

Users will no longer be able to control their thermostats remotely via their smartphone, receive notifications, or change settings from a mobile device. End-of-support also disables third-party assistants and other cloud-based features including multi-device Eco mode and Nest Protect connectivity.

  • Zachariah@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I did, too. It was actively developed until those shitheads bought Nest. Then the only “upgrade” was to add clicking noises when changing the temperature that don’t respect the OS keyboard clicks setting.

    Just think how much bandwidth and computing and human resources they’re saving money on. Oh, wait, it’s hardly anything to change the temperature and they’re a billion dollar company. But how will they sell more if they don’t fuck over the early adopters?

    Belkin is pulling the same stunt with their Wemo switches and plugs.

    We understand this is a letdown, especially if you’ve relied on Wemo in your daily routine. Reliability and trust have always been central to Belkin, and we recognize that this transition may not reflect the experience you’ve come to expect from us. We are genuinely sorry for the disruption.

    Bullshit! If you cared you’d support your enthusiast customers. Again, we’re talking about very little resources and a very large company. Just leave these lies out of your announcement email.

    If they were genuinely sorry but still committed to pulling the plugs on the backend, they would ad least do this:

    When these companies want to cease updates and shutdown their servers, they should be required to:

    1. Provide a path to install open source or third party firmware
    2. Fully document the communication with the the device requires to function
    3. Allow pointing the device at an open source or third party server
    • AbidanYre@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I have to wonder if permanently losing the enthusiast/early adopter demographic is going to cause more damage in the long run than the cost of keeping those servers running.

      Google is big enough it doesn’t matter, but Belkin could be shooting themselves in the foot.

      • Zachariah@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Well, I’m the family IT person, and I’ll never recommend Belkin ever again. I’m asked throughout the year on tech buying decisions. There are plenty of other options out there.

    • webhead@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Yeah I had those wemo switches in my old house and their servers were unreliable as fuck all the time (app was straight garbage). I’m not even surprised they finally pulled the plug. They’re on my shit list forever now.

      It costs more but I went hue and couldn’t be happier. Spent too many years complaining about how it was expensive but God damn if they don’t just work and Phillips I trust far more to not just shut shit down (and even if they did, I can still make them work since it’s not proprietary).