Philips Hue blocks 3rd party lights

Post by motoboi » Tue, Dec 15, 2015, 4:33 AM UTC

hcf wrote: post #230

zorpner wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As relevant today as when it was written: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20030728-00/?p=... People will blindly follow a tutorial online that tells them how to activate this option, and continue to contact Philips for support. I've worked on products that have these unsupported/advanced modes, and customer queries on them are constant and time-consuming, even to simply dismiss (and, of course, those cus…

The Chromebook method (to disable write protect) requires you to open the device and remove a specific screw, it's beyond just blindly following instructions.

Post by commandar » Tue, Dec 15, 2015, 4:39 AM UTC

mmanfrin wrote: post #143

kamaal wrote: post #94

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Fine strategy until the universal controller app arrives. After that, the same Boss would hope they should allowed their app to control third party bulbs, since that way at least they would have a brand presence, and by that way that would have allowed them to sell their bulbs better than others.

This is why I am betting on Amazon for the long win; the Echo is continually expanding to be able to control any device that connects to the internet, and Amazon isn't trying to push their own brand of bulbs (yet). They seem to be building themselves as the point of contact for humans to set off [whatever automated thing some other company sells].

Post by sowbug » Tue, Dec 15, 2015, 4:48 AM UTC

drdaeman wrote: post #167

cynicalkane wrote: post #127

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Apple's EULA actually requires you to build iOS software on a Mac. Using a PC is not a legal option.

Had anyone ever tried to challenge this in a court? Some jurisdictions have customer protection laws that say it's illegal to require purchase of some goods (or services) as a condition for purchase of other goods (or services). Don't know English legal terms for this, sorry.

Post by qq66 » Tue, Dec 15, 2015, 4:51 AM UTC

jzwinck wrote: post #203

gherkin0 wrote: post #161

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It's a total dick move on Philips's part to "update" incompatibility into existing products that people already own and have spend money and effort to integrate. These people bought product with the expectation of compatibility, now they're out their investment because of Philips's selfish business decision. Even they have elevated support costs, Philips's made their bed by offering compatibility in the first place f…

> It's a total dick move on Philips's part to "update" incompatibility into existing products that people already own Last year, Shimano (the bikes-and-fishing people) released a firmware update for their electronic shifting system which prevents 2012 (10-speed) parts from working with 2014 (11-speed) gear mechanisms. Literally, if you upgraded your bike from 10 speeds to 11, it worked when the hardware was released,…

Post by underbluewaters » Tue, Dec 15, 2015, 5:10 AM UTC

manyxcxi wrote: post #215

underbluewaters wrote: post #199

I've been a hue user for the past year. 1) Their lights/bridge are by far the most reliable IoT product I've used. A 9/10 where other products (Wink, GE, Lutron) are at best 3/10. 2) While 3rd party bulbs were sort of supported, it wasn't advertised. I've never seen it described as a interoperable Zigbee Light Link device. 3) My attempts at getting a GE bulb working were inconsistent, and even when it did work the br…

I've been using the Wink hub with a variety of different z-wave light switches, electrical outlets, plug adapters, and even a thermostat for the last 6 months. I DEFINITELY feel like the Wink hub is the weak link. It needs resetting frequently enough that I don't really trust that I'll be able to turn on my heat remotely when coming back from vacation, so my neighbor is usually on notice for manual backup (let himsel…