Nest, the company, died at Google I/O 2019 • Hacker News Board

Re: Nest, the company, died at Google I/O 2019

#21

Post by MichaelApproved » Fri, May 10, 2019, 1:34 PM UTC

stirkac wrote: post #6

This is why I would never invest too much into Smart Home. While my phone may be expected to last for a few years only, I don't want my house deprecated because of a takeover/bankruptcy of a company.

Reconsider. I'd say these are two safe options:

1) Go with a cloud service using products exclusively made by a single major company, like Google or Amazon. This is simpler to setup and maintain but more expensive.

2) Go with an open source solution, like Home Assistant. Cheaper option with more control but requires a lot of time to learn, setup and maintain.

Both options should be considered safe at this point.

Edit: added emphasis on "made by" since many were missing that nuance. Buying a single brand of HA from a single company should be considered safe.

I'm not talking about buying compatible devices made by other manufacturers, this API issue shows is that isn't safe.

Re: Nest, the company, died at Google I/O 2019

#22

Post by scarface74 » Fri, May 10, 2019, 1:34 PM UTC

stirkac wrote: post #6

This is why I would never invest too much into Smart Home. While my phone may be expected to last for a few years only, I don't want my house deprecated because of a takeover/bankruptcy of a company.

Or end up like people investing in “smart homes” in the 90s.

Remember when built in intercom systems in the home were considered advanced?

http://mentalfloss.com/article/510559/what-smart-home-techno...

Re: Nest, the company, died at Google I/O 2019

#23

Post by romanovcode » Fri, May 10, 2019, 1:35 PM UTC

eej71 wrote: post #4

romanovcode wrote: post #2

What would you expect to happen. This was written the moment G bought it. Of course they are going to merge the platform into Google-Home. This was inevitable

I had this hope that the nest brand itself would survive and be as it was - with perhaps some products migrated into that brand. But that was misplaced hope.

It never works like this

Re: Nest, the company, died at Google I/O 2019

#24

Post by deforciant » Fri, May 10, 2019, 1:36 PM UTC

I did quite a bit of experimentation with home automation systems (HomeSeer, Home Assistant, Domoticz and so on) and decided that the best (at least for me) and the most control giving solution is NodeRED - https://github.com/node-red/node-red. You can create pretty complex flows with many already available nodes but if you want something custom - it's trivial either to add JS functions or to create your own node from scratch. Currently running it in a Docker container on an Intel NUC :)

The only downside is that it's not user friendly for non-tech people as you would still have to know few things such as what is HTTP server and how do devices talk to each other. It's not as easy as plugging in Google Home and just talking to it. But on the other hand, I only use my google home to: 1. Set timer when I am cooking 2. Send webhooks to my NodeRED to control things.

I don't have Nest currently, although I did use it several years ago, can't say it's very smart :)

Re: Nest, the company, died at Google I/O 2019

#25

Post by jmontano » Fri, May 10, 2019, 1:37 PM UTC

nutjob2 wrote: post #16

heavymark wrote: post #11

This is why we invested in Apple Home, since that is the least likely to go away completely off all the options. Any Google service other than Gmail and Google Maps may come and go so while they offer amazing features at the cost of invading your privacy, there is no guarantee they will there in the long term.

Yeah, Apple has never cancelled a product.

I think DIY is the best route. Considering change is inevitable, I guess the safest route is to start and lead that change yourself.

In the end we are all humans even companies like Apple are run by humans.

Re: Nest, the company, died at Google I/O 2019

#26

Post by dragonwriter » Fri, May 10, 2019, 1:38 PM UTC

NikolaNovak wrote: post #13

heavymark wrote: post #11

This is why we invested in Apple Home, since that is the least likely to go away completely off all the options. Any Google service other than Gmail and Google Maps may come and go so while they offer amazing features at the cost of invading your privacy, there is no guarantee they will there in the long term.

>> Any Google service other than Gmail and Google Maps may come and go I felt Gmail was at _significant_ risk when Inbox was announced; result was unexpected.

Inbox by Google was never a separate service it was an alternative front-end UI, so I don't see how it would indicate a risk to Gmail the service (which has had many UI changes over the years, including a clumsy and incomplete incorporation of Inbox features.)

Re: Nest, the company, died at Google I/O 2019

#27

Post by kryptiskt » Fri, May 10, 2019, 1:39 PM UTC

MichaelApproved wrote: post #21

stirkac wrote: post #6

This is why I would never invest too much into Smart Home. While my phone may be expected to last for a few years only, I don't want my house deprecated because of a takeover/bankruptcy of a company.

Reconsider. I'd say these are two safe options: 1) Go with a cloud service using products exclusively made by a single major company, like Google or Amazon. This is simpler to setup and maintain but more expensive. 2) Go with an open source solution, like Home Assistant. Cheaper option with more control but requires a lot of time to learn, setup and maintain. Both options should be considered safe at this point. Edit…

There's no safety going with products from a major company. They pivot all the time, not least Google. The only benefit is that one might get a refund when they do something egregious.

And in this case, Google just gave all their customers using the Nest API the finger. How is it safe to trust them going forward?

Re: Nest, the company, died at Google I/O 2019

#28

Post by Kique » Fri, May 10, 2019, 1:42 PM UTC

I kind of like how Google is moving all the home related products to the Nest brand. We always talk about Google branding being the worst but I think this is actually a logical move to one brand for everything Home.

I also like that I'll be able to use my google login for my Nest products in the future, and the author even agrees that the Nest app is not great and the Google Home app is what I currently use anyway for my Nest products.

I feel like the only real downside of all this is the Works With Nest platform is dead? Looks like they're working with Amazon on Alexa integration so that is nice, hopefully that will be ready by the end of August and work with more companies about integration.

Re: Nest, the company, died at Google I/O 2019

#29

Post by scarface74 » Fri, May 10, 2019, 1:45 PM UTC

In what world could Nest have been a profitable ongoing concern without being acquired by someone?

It’s hard enough going from startup to either IPO or a self sustainable “lifestyle business” for a software company. It’s almost impossible for a hardware company - see Eero.

Re: Nest, the company, died at Google I/O 2019

#30

Post by H1Supreme » Fri, May 10, 2019, 1:46 PM UTC

This is still the Thread protocol under the hood, right? Are developers prevented from creating another platform based on thread (or openthread) somehow?

Seems like an opportunity to target people who don't want to move to Google. But, in reality, your average person won't really care. They'll just migrate over and not think twice.