Reminder - always be wary of cloud based devices/services... {hugs my hubitat hub}

IMO this isn't about the cloud but really google's lack of commitment to most things it gets into. Look at all the great products that eventually died when google bought them. Also if some functionality breaks in an update it would be a very rare instance to get it fixed.

So I'm never touching any more google stuff (other than phones) unless there is absolutely no other alternative (which fortunately there always is).

If google ever bought HE (heaven forbid) that would be my cue to move over to Home Assistant!

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@erktrek has started a thread.... I should get some sleep.... but I should also respond.... arrrggghh.... :slight_smile:

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The Wink folks might want a word with you about that!!

edit: Maybe also the OSRAM, Smart Things, Sonos, IFTTT, Flume people as well :wink:

Keep in mind it's not just about being discontinued - also it's about changing the terms of service... deprecating the new api etc etc..

_prayIdontAlter

Note: I certainly understand that a company needs revenue to support their stuff - maybe they should NOT have their devices rely on a critical cloud component that they have to support on the backend ad infinitum.

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I certainly agree with this point, and I would like to add to it.
Even though I am a (proud) Canadian, I take the threat from China very seriously. It's insidious, it's pervasive, and it's real. I hope I'm not being paranoid about this, but, every product that "calls home" to a server in China is an AUTOMATIC NO for me, and every smarthome installation that I do.

Whenever I install anything, I make sure that I read reviews, and if I see that the device "calls home", I will not, under any circumstances, install that product. I don't care how good it is, or how functional it is, I just won't do it. Furthermore, in my router, I specifically block certain ip's. In addition, if I'm suspicious, I turn off internet access when I'm setting up a product to see if it surreptitiously "calls home".

I know that some people have called this attitude xenophobic and anti-asian, but I am careful to maintain a balanced and sensible approach. There is no need for a computer databank in China to have a record of things that I do. I don't want it, and will do what I can to ensure that it doesn't happen.

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You're not going to be happy with the direction automakers are heading.

I guess I'm going to go back to crate engines.

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The problem with that article is right at the top:

If you don’t pay up every month, Tesla might side with the bank to help them repossess your car.

If you don't keep you with your payments, then the bank owns the car, not you.

As for onHub: Google isn't bricking the devices (like SmartThings did to the v1 hubs), but they are taking away the only admin interface. The devices will still work until you need to change any setting... and then you can't. That's rather rotten.

Personally, I'd be worried about any device with only a cloud or vendor-app controlled interface. My Ecobee thermostats have that, but they can still be controlled at the device.

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Wondering why you think if Hubitat drops the Elevation we would have a redundant paperweight? The only issue I can think of is that when a device craps out, maybe the hub wouldn't support the replacement. If I never had to buy another device, my hub(s) would continue to work just fine regardless of whether Hubitat was still around. Maybe there is something I hadn't thought of?

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Actually what I said was "an increasingly redundant paperweight". Sure on HEDeadDay+1 it would work absolutely fine, just as before. But moving forward, to HEDeadDay+n, any software bugs found would not be fixed, any new protocols/devices would probably not be supported. Its likely that the HE Community would stop writing/supporting Apps for a non-supported hub. If your HE breaks its unlikely you'll be able to replace it.

Over time, it would increasingly not be worth persisting with...and in the end it would be a paperweight

If your setup is "complete" in terms of the kinds of devices you want automated then the only issues I see are hardware failures. You can increase the system lifetime by having spares on hand including an additional registered hub. It all depends on how important the system is and how long you want to keep things running.

The only gotchas are the online services and devices like Alexa etc.. api's & security change so that might become an issue. The extra good news is thanks to the ability to write custom drivers and apps a lot of things can continue to evolve or be developed.

Another helpful thing in my experience is to have a separate server running a centralized rules controller like Node-RED (or others). This allows for additional systems to be incorporated as necessary while the rules/automations can remain fairly constant and are easily adapted.

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Let's hope it never happens :grinning:

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:+1:

like Alexa etc

That's why I'm watching mycroft. I'd love to move Alexa out of device voice control.

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Thanks for posting the link to my topic. FYI, it is getting to be useful. I'm almost ready to turn off Alexa. Re Mycroft: I recommend the Raspberry Pi version with an amplified speaker and a Playstation Eye. The latter is always pushed as a camera but it was the microphone that I cared about: it works very well with Mycroft. With this mike, Mycroft hears and understands surprisingly well and has a lot of useful skills beside mine!

Of course you should know that the voice recognition, while open source, is in the cloud for the Pi version. Not sure about the voice synthesis.

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I was not aware the PI version was cloud based. Still, we're inching closer to local voice control ...or at least an alternative to Alexa or Google if they become problematic.

If you find something different, please let me know. It's possible I misunderstood. But in any case, what I like is that all the actual control is local. Even commanding hubitat from Alexa forces me to use the Alexa app on H which of course gets commands from the cloud.

Case in point - Is this not why we see a continual flow of folks migrating from ST to HE ?

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Yep and Wink too I guess... The trick is HE manages to be a lot more flexible and open at least on the surface. This means adding features/capabilities can be done without Hubitat Inc's involvement - things like the HPM, HubInfo and even HubConnect which still has a following and some interesting advantages over HubMesh.

This used to be sort of true with SmartThings except it was/is all still cloud based and vulnerable to the whims of Samsung.

Even Alexa -like any cloud service- might not always be with us...

Dec 2021: Amazon’s Alexa Stalled With Users as Interest Faded, Documents Show

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-22/amazon-s-voice-controlled-smart-speaker-alexa-can-t-hold-customer-interest-docs

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Well, we could switch to Google for voice control....

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