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A comment on Bose is open-sourcing its old smart speakers instead of bricking them. Parent comment

Re:Bose is open-sourcing its old smart speakers instead of b... by samrus on Thursday January 08, 2026 @11:26AM (#46542917)
Yeah but writing that backend app will be much much easier now
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Re:Bose is open-sourcing its old smart speakers instead of b... by ahepp on Thursday January 08, 2026 @11:39AM (#46543113)
It’s a very nice thing to do, but from what I have read it is very much not open sourcing anything.

Maybe that distinction is too arcane for general technology audiences, but I don’t really think it is?

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Re:Bose is open-sourcing its old smart speakers instead of b... by spencerap on Thursday January 08, 2026 @02:08PM (#46545069)
The Verge's headline is misleading

> Bose is open-sourcing its old smart speakers

Bose, though, makes a more nuanced distinction in their announcement, which is linked to in the article

> Open-source options for the community | We’re making our technical specifications available so that independent developers can create their own SoundTouch-compatible tools and features.

Bose never claims they're making the speakers open-source, it's lazy reporting by The Verge. They're just making it a little easier for the community to build stuff if they want.

While actually releasing the source code for the speakers would be best, there might be some legitimate business concerns. To me this is a step in the right direction, and their official announcement accurately represented that.

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