
The Next Model for Voice – How Platforms and Builders Can Work Together - jpkdc
https://bespoken.io/blog/the-next-model-for-voice/
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chipotle_coyote
Good article, and I'm not saying that solely because it has a callout to
Bixby, which I think is doing more interesting stuff than it's often given
credit for (full disclosure: I work on Bixby's documentation).

I think, though, the article dances around the real elephant in the room
rather than addressing it head-on: the lack of an open, non-proprietary
protocol coordinating IoT controllers and devices. Because my iPhone uses
Bluetooth, it can "speak" to my car, my A/V receiver, my speaker, and my
headphones; they don't have to be "iPhone-ready" to work. If I bought a Galaxy
S11 next year, all my Bluetooth products would still work. It's all Bluetooth.
That should be essentially the same for IoT devices: if I buy a thermostat or
a wireless lighting fixture, it shouldn't matter whether I want to control it
with Alexa, Siri, Bixby, or even something that isn't a voice assistant at
all. Yes, I understand the market reasons why this hasn't happened, but I
suspect it's a necessary step for the envisioned IoT future to really take
off.

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armagon
Well said.

I'm just starting to get some IoT devices -- mostly because that is the only
way certain things I want come -- but I would really rather have localized
control of these devices in my LAN than have them go out to the internet. (If
my house is cut off from the 'net, but there is still power, I should be able
to turn my light on and off! Extrapolating to a world where everyone has IoT
devices and they work like today, it is more than a little disturbing to me
that a third party could turn off people's HVACs, plunge them into darkness,
and taunt them over their speakers).

Devices in my home should be under my control. No one else should be involved.
I grant the expedient part where these things all talk to the internet, so
that they are easy to use, but there is every reason to believe that I should
be able to control it on my own network, without it talking to the internet,
and without having to resort to hacking my own hardware.

