News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Google Is Turning Off the Works-with-Nest API by bunderbunder on Tuesday May 07, 2019 @10:23PM (#19855392)
No company is, and expecting any company to continue spending money on maintaining a service even if they've decided it isn't profitable is pollyannaish.

To that end, I'm not sure I see the value in framing this specifically as a Google thing. Google is maybe the most visible because of how many products it has, and how popular many of them are. But really, this sort of thing is a problem that's inherent to any IoT devices that rely on proprietary cloud services, in whole or in part.

Re:Google Is Turning Off the Works-with-Nest API by walterbell on Tuesday May 07, 2019 @11:04PM (#19855563)
There's a difference between an IoT manufacturer going out of business, which causes related software services to terminate, and an IoT manufacturer failing to deliver on device claims made before the sale took place.
Re:Google Is Turning Off the Works-with-Nest API by bunderbunder on Wednesday May 08, 2019 @09:39AM (#19858680)
There's also a difference between how we want things to work, and how they actually do.

These services typically include some language in the EULA to the effect of, "We can disable parts of this device from our end, for any reason, at any time." And agreeing to those is almost certainly precondition for using the device.

Which absolutely sucks. But it's the legal and consumer protection environment we live in right now. Pretending it isn't is -- hang the downvotes, I'm gonna double down on this -- pollyannaish. Until things change, your only real recourse as a consumer is to refuse to buy products that are sold under those sorts of terms. Which, unfortunately, does mean steering clear of IoT devices that rely on proprietary cloud services.

Re:Google Is Turning Off the Works-with-Nest API by walterbell on Wednesday May 08, 2019 @11:44AM (#19859956)
EULAs do not override national or state regulations on device fitness for purpose.
Re:Google Is Turning Off the Works-with-Nest API by cf498 on Wednesday May 08, 2019 @01:44AM (#19856159)
I expect a company to continue a service for the foreseeable future (lets say the normal duration of the warranty on the product) if it is necessary to use a product i just bought. Otherwise I expect a refund or it feels very much like fraud to me. Legislators should get involved here sooner then later.
Re:Google Is Turning Off the Works-with-Nest API by Nullabillity on Wednesday May 08, 2019 @02:49AM (#19856452)
There is a huge difference between the product naturally breaking a while after the warranty expires, and the product deliberately self-destructing as soon as it's no longer the manufacturer's problem.