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Logitech will brick its Harmony Link hub for all owners in March

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I saw that coming. :(
 
I feel bad for people who bought the Link. The Harmony Hub is a great product. It'd be nice if Logitech at least provided a discount to switch.
 
They provide a 35% discount to switch, which is still a really bad deal if you consider that that unless you use other compatible smart home products, the hub offers no real advantage over the link. they are literally killing an old version of a product to get you to buy a new model that does the same thing.

The entire issue is due to unnecessary cloud reliance. With the specifications, it should store the remote code database locally on the device (it has enough storage), and the phone should communicate with it directly over the LAN. The logitech servers shouldn't be needed unless there is a need to update the database. The cloud reliance only serves to allow logitech to avoid the traditional methods of planned obsolescence such as using poor quality capacitors or other passives so that the device fails quickly, as that increases the RMA rate, now these companies use the cloud reliance in order to just add a fixed end of life where the product becomes useless regardless of the condition of the hardware.
 
Question? How do we hid in the alley and rob people blindly in 2017?

Answer: Sell them anything 'cloud', discontinue it then rinse and repeat. :(
 
I always loved Logitech stuff, especially their wireless trackballs, but despise their hub/link to cloud silliness. Had many former clients who loved their hubs/links, at least until they had to RMA them because of Logitech's cloud-fail. The hub/link has always overpriced for the convenience it brought. If you have any problems with Logitechs' database, you find yourself in a long line of unhappy people. We bought a 650 remote, set it up painlessly after linking to their database which was easy at the time. Today it's still a killer remote, and so much better than the crapware provided with new TVs. A year later the remote is marked as discontinued, but it's selling new for $40. That's a good buy, until you find you can't link/access the Logitech cloud. When Logitech pulls the plug and breaks your access, all you have is an expensive, pretty memory of a paper weights.

We tried to add a file player to our Logitech remote this year and ran into their cloud-brick-wall. Logitech had mysteriously borked all access to our cloud account. The remote recognized that it was already authorized could 'see' it should update, but the cloud was never to allow me to sign in to actually start the update. Logitechs' boilerplate reply was that we "must have forgotten our password/there was no such account on their servers" etc/yada-yada. Sorry dudes, but it was none of the above. I have to copy/paste all of our long ID and passwords into the corrent fields, with my Logitech trackball but Logitech's cloud won't acknowledge them any more. The remote somehow linked up by itself and downloaded the update we needed; it just worked even though Logitech set it up to fail, so yea! At that point I began research into this problem. To my surprise, I found many former Logitech fans screaming obsenities in caps on forums, regarding their formerly beloved links/hubs/remotes regarding Logitechs now worthless-whizbang cloud linkup.

I decided to write a letter to the head of the customer support division as a last resort, since spending 2 hours on hold to their answering machine wasn't going to happen twice. The gent actually wrote back, apologizing for any inconvenience. Then he suggested we should consider buying a new remote; if we signed up for a new account on their new, improved cloud database, that would probably solve the linkage problem. Nothing is wrong with our remote, it just needed to be allowed to add another device. Oh Yeah, Sure, Youbetcha Mr. Logitech, I'll just throw my working remote and more money into your hoppers to make you happy. We were tempted to buy into the hub/link scheme when it was reduced a few months ago. What fun, wasted time and money that would've been. No more Logitech cloud nonsense.

A somewhat crude analogy: "here sheep, nice sheep, come through the gate, look up at the nice fluffy Clouds, disregard that man behind the gate holding a large, heavy Hammer, thataboy, TWHACK; Next!" Ever since the corporate powers that be decided our future would forever be beholden to their cloud, they live to entice more of we sheep to buy into it, while they grin all the way to the bank. Meanwhile, good, long-time loyal customers cry in online forums when their beloved gadgets fail to phone home, since Logitech holds that magic key, which is broken. Didn't intend to stray on a slighty mild rant, but lashing with 40 noodles is too good for 'em; Shame, Logitech.
 
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Internet Man, what a nice gesture by Logitech; what happens when the nice gesture breaks, since it's obsolete? Not like Logitech is going to lose further business, or money on clearing out the new/old stock they're stuck with. Tis the thought of how much failure and outrage it took, that caused them to be so magnanimous, but, it's something. Give the wee doggies a bone:)
 
Yep, I'm sure they're doing this to protect all of their latent/now-valued customers that they alienated, from themselves. When my 650 decides to croak, I'm going with the el-cheapo, self-programmable remotes. I bought the first one to come out in the '80s for around $100, with a bright LED panel, back-lit buttons, it weighed about a pound and took 8-AA batteries. You could follow elaborate programming techniques or simply butt it end to end with the OEM remotes you wanted to replace. It covered the entire 3-story home, no hubs or links needed, and no kids ever touched it. It's around here in a box somewhere. When you look at the liability to Logitech that the Link represents, and the now-valued consumers, well, those units could've been hacked into terminator-style bots that would take out most of civilization. The consequenses would be ridiculous to contemplate; oops, seriously, we're already there; https://www.schneier.com/essays/archives/2017/01/click_here_to_kill_e.html Cheers:)
 

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