"The kitchen of the future will only employ one man and one dog: the man’s job is to feed the dog, the dog’s job is to bite the man if he tries to touch anything”.
So your oven needs updates because it's connected to the internet. It needs internet so manufacrurers could sell your data to data brokers. Those data brokers need your data to sell it to advertisers. And advertisers need it to sell you personalized ads. Users need ads to convince themselves that they need cheap junk, like those wifi-equipped microwave ovens. And those ovens need updates because... Such is the cycle of misery that's called "advertising industry".
We had analog timers 50 years ago, so that the Sunday roast would be ready when you came home from church. This crap is unneeded, unnecessary complexity. To hell with it.
Hmmm, I've never considered pre-heating a microwave; I thought it wasn't necessary, because the food would be heated using - um - microwaves. I must have been missing a trick.
Mine connects, specifically to allow Alexa voice control. It actually comes in handy once and a while (or should I say, handless...)
The one appliance I have that has internet capability that I don't understand is my dishwasher. It has the ability to be remote started. I can't think of a single use case for this, since you need to load soap to use it, and it has a delay feature. It's a great dishwasher, and I bought it in spite of the silly internet option, which I've never enabled.
This sounds like an awful idea. you'll have a kid somewhere mimic their parents, throw their plastic fruit in the oven, and tell alexa to cook it (starting a fire)
i could see having something in there ready to go, and waiting until the meat hits a certain temperature to turn it on. If the microwave and the thermometer can both make it to the same service that could be automated. Since so few people run on premiss home automation that would require internet access. It is way easier to connect to a phone if the device and app just know to connect to a spot on the internet. port forwarding and whatnot are a pain for some people. That said I suppose the real reason is the company is collecting marketing data.
As to why it needs security updates, it's because it's connected(able) to the internet.