This should be a legal requirement for being allowed to sell networked devices.
(Original title: Bose open-sources its SoundTouch home theater smart speakers ahead of end-of-life)
Discussion
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@tante The beautiful irony here consists of all the following good, and more:
1. This is #recycleMode in all the ways Sonos's so-called recycle mode wasn't. And that's a good thing.
2. Anyone with the chops can build a permanently accessible native app around this api.
Which would give users who can obtain this speaker set used in the not-too-distant future a viable, opensource and accessible wireless audio setup. Up yours, Sonos!
Bose has had a bad customer reputation since the 80's.
@tante It is hard to imagine that people consider such devices their property if this is not the case. Sadly, most people still think their connected devices are theirs - including some cars these days.
@tante from reading it’s not open source. They just document the REST api which should have been done on release day.
@hub Making it Open Source would be better. But the API at least allows people to build something to keep the systems operational. It's not "the best thing" but it should be the minimum.
@tante but the terminology is incorrect (and confusing) — it first it make the reader think that the software is.
Yes it's still better than any other, but the bar is set so low..
Ars is doing us a disfavour here and they should know better.
@hub I agree with that criticism. @arstechnica has fucked up with the terminology here.
Including vehicles and in the event of bankruptcy.
@tante
As the unhappy owner of legacy sonos devices, i felt this in my bones. Fuck sonos.
@tante Oh that is good new. My mom owns one of those and to me it sounds pretty awesome. So maybe time to get a cheap one once people start getting rid of them because EoL.
@tante Also for software / games that require a server to connect to
@tante There was no actual conversion to open-source. ars-technica was a bit sloppy here.
What happened is that Bose sent a link to the HTTP API document so that people could write replacement software for the stuff that connects to the device.
Device internal software remains proprietary and non-fixable.
@nihkeys Open Sourcing the firmware would be optimal. But I'd take a "here's the API, you can integrate it with whatever you want" is the baseline I'd demand. This at least allows people to "unbrick" the devices. But I see your point.