> A Sonos executive also said it took “courage” for the company to overhaul its app, which some customers said was dismissive of their complaints.
So now the excuse for shipping bad software is that it took "courage"?
The problem with connected products is that you want security updates (because they are connected to your network, they are a liability), but modern software is usually pretty bad. So say you bought your product because you found it nice, it's highly likely that it will get worse with some update in the future. The fact that it was nice when you bought it was probably more the exception than the norm.
The best products, IMO, are the ones that don't need updates. Because you know the quality of what you buy, and you know the manufacturer won't be able to break it. But that doesn't really work with connected devices.
I am in Denon’s HEOS ecosystem because I bought a Denon home theatre receiver and then a few smart speakers.
Denon changed the HEOS app recently, I don’t think it was a disaster but I don’t think it was a real improvement either. A while back I wrote a desktop client for HEOS using Python’s tk bindings, it was ugly as hell but it did work. I ought to get it out of mothballs.
I do find the new app bafflingly lacking in even simple UX things. It's currently not possible to reorganize the play queue, or add songs to it.
On a more funny note, the app complains about lack of bluetooth access every time it starts. The primary case for bluetooth is to add units to the system, so it's not something that should be needed on a day-to-day basis.
So now the excuse for shipping bad software is that it took "courage"?
The problem with connected products is that you want security updates (because they are connected to your network, they are a liability), but modern software is usually pretty bad. So say you bought your product because you found it nice, it's highly likely that it will get worse with some update in the future. The fact that it was nice when you bought it was probably more the exception than the norm.
The best products, IMO, are the ones that don't need updates. Because you know the quality of what you buy, and you know the manufacturer won't be able to break it. But that doesn't really work with connected devices.