[MichaelApproved]

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.

[kryptiskt]

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?

[MichaelApproved]

That's why I specifically said "made by a single company", not "made for a single company". Products using the Nest API were "made for".

[2Ccltvcm]

Irrelevant because you will always get screwed unless the company has a huge track record in backwards compatibility and very conservative slow changing management.

Get open source hardware and software that you can maintain yourself or suck it up and cough up the dough.

[YayamiOmate]

What are you talking about. This whole situation is a one great counterexample to your 1).

Making any company a single point of failure is a bad idea. You are basically giving up your freedom of choice for maybe some convenience, but don't confuse it with guarantee of sustained service.

[MichaelApproved]

I'm talking about buying a single brand of product. Not buying things that are compatible with that brand, buying specifically just that brand.

[TeMPOraL]

Again, unless that company has a great track record, you'll probably get screwed rather quickly. Google is not such company, for example. Also, any startup is out of the question too; half-life of VC-backed SaaSes is on the order of a year or two.

IMO buying any hardware tied to a SaaS is a dumb idea.

[TeMPOraL]

If you don't want to deal with 2), I'd add:

3) Find a local home automation company and look at their offerings. There's a chance you'll find people willing to sell you actual products that are optionally Internet-connected, but not Internet-first, and are not tied to a garbage SaaS. They'll install and service them for you too. Key words here are "home automation"; I find looking for this phrase instead of "IoT" to weed out a lot of garbage.

[josteink]

> Go with a cloud service using products exclusively made by a single major company, like Google or Amazon.

You mean like Nest? Not a good example.

Better advice is buying something non-cloud based which uses established standards and which works entirely within your LAN.

If the company goes down, at least you can interact with the devices using the standards they were built on (Zigbee, z-wave, etc).

[MichaelApproved]

Why is best not a good example? If you buy exclusively Google made products you're still fine.

Reread my original comment. I say you'd be safe if you buy products made BY a single company. This API effects those who bought things that are made by other manufacturers.