> Joe Blow wants to download the app, click the button, and make it work. This is 99.999% of the users that buy something off the shelf at the big box store.
And I don't dispute that, this option should remain available. What I dispute is the idea that the lack of local control is somehow beneficial to the end user by "protecting" them from vulnerabilities.
The only thing such arrangement is protecting is the manufacturer's bottom line, by allowing them to 1. harvest and sell data, 2. take away features or start pushing upsells when they need to boost their quarterly profits.
> Asking why a Haier dishwasher doesn't have a local API is like asking why a Toyota Sienna doesn't have configurable launch control, power-take-off, or a fifth-wheel.
Well that's just ridiculous, all of those features have significant per-unit cost to implement. Exposing some form of local control would take, if we're being generous, a couple of person-weeks of effort and it would cover the entire product line with a marginal per-unit cost of a single switch.
And I don't dispute that, this option should remain available. What I dispute is the idea that the lack of local control is somehow beneficial to the end user by "protecting" them from vulnerabilities.
The only thing such arrangement is protecting is the manufacturer's bottom line, by allowing them to 1. harvest and sell data, 2. take away features or start pushing upsells when they need to boost their quarterly profits.
> Asking why a Haier dishwasher doesn't have a local API is like asking why a Toyota Sienna doesn't have configurable launch control, power-take-off, or a fifth-wheel.
Well that's just ridiculous, all of those features have significant per-unit cost to implement. Exposing some form of local control would take, if we're being generous, a couple of person-weeks of effort and it would cover the entire product line with a marginal per-unit cost of a single switch.