How long do you think the "free" will last?

[jbb2198]

New to the forum and just throwing this out here for discussion. No rumors!!..yet. I love my Amazon Echo and just got the new Tap. I use both for music, weather, news and control of my Wink lights. A resent article in USA today by Glen Reynolds about company control of software(http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/04/08/internet-things-intellectual-property-laws-technology-cybersecurity-hackers-column/82698780/ )has me wondering. If Amazon reaches a certain sales target, is it "Ok, I can do/find that for XX.$"? Or will we be forced to buy Amazon Prime? I'm considering signing up for Prime as is, still I won't like the idea of no Alexia without the purchase.

[DParker]

If Amazon reaches a certain sales target, is it "Ok, I can do/find that for XX.$"?

I'm not sure I know what that means.  Actually, I'm quite sure I don't.

Or will we be forced to buy Amazon Prime?

It would be nigh impossible to get away with trying to charge for a service that was explicitly promised as free with the purchase of the device used to access it.

I'm considering signing up for Prime as is

I've found my Prime membership to be one of the best values of any service I've ever paid for.  Of course, YMMV based on your own habits, wants, needs, etc.

[jbb2198]

We may own the hardware. Amazon owns the software (Alexia).  NOT YOU. Right now the software is "free" as is the skills. The point that seems to escape you is Amazon may start charging fees at some point. May be bad business but Not "nigh impossible".

[jbb2198]

Btw. Who explicitly promised? And what? The app to run it is free, but who's to say they (amazon) may come out with a "premium" app? You need at buy a premium membership for spotify to work with Alexia.

[DParker]

We may own the hardware. Amazon owns the software (Alexia).  NOT YOU. Right now the software is "free" as is the skills. The point that seems to escape you is Amazon may start charging fees at some point. May be bad business but Not "nigh impossible".

In addition to being unburdened by literacy skills you are ill-mannered and arrogant without cause, not having a sufficient understanding of the subject matter at hand.

I have been a professional software engineer for nearly 30 years.  I am well aware of the intellectual property rights issues in play, and the fact that Amazon owns the code that controls these devices, as well as the Alexa service with which they (and a growing number of other platforms) interact.  But none of that undercuts anything that I've said.  If you'll go back and read the entirety of what I said, rather than just the two words you lifted and pasted out of context, you'll find that what I said was that it would be "nigh impossible to get away with" selling Echos/Dots/Taps for the purpose of accessing a service that is provided to owners of those devices for no extra cost, and then, after the fact, attempt to charge them for it, essentially using the threat of rendering their devices useless as a way of extorting additional money from those customers.

If you did in fact read the entire of my statement then perhaps your difficulty stems from an overly narrow interpretation on your part of the meaning of, "get away with".  If so, a little bit of extra thought should help to bring additional meanings to mind.

[jbb2198]

God God. You really get upset. Go to the USA post. I was just asking a hypothetical questions and you take it personally. I hope you aren't this cranky in real life.

[DParker]

God God. You really get upset. Go to the USA post. I was just asking a hypothetical questions and you take it personally. I hope you aren't this cranky in real life.

NOT YOU.

The point that seems to escape you...

Most people who are past middle school age will recognize that sort of thing as being obnoxious.  You also weren't "just asking a hypothetical question", so your feigned indignation here is disingenuous at best.

[renegade600]

New to the forum and just throwing this out here for discussion. No rumors!!..yet. I love my Amazon Echo and just got the new Tap. I use both for music, weather, news and control of my Wink lights. A resent article in USA today by Glen Reynolds about company control of software(http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/04/08/internet-things-intellectual-property-laws-technology-cybersecurity-hackers-column/82698780/ )has me wondering. If Amazon reaches a certain sales target, is it "Ok, I can do/find that for XX.$"? Or will we be forced to buy Amazon Prime? I'm considering signing up for Prime as is, still I won't like the idea of no Alexia without the purchase.

I tend to agree with you on this.  Over the years I have seen many free services become premium services.  There is always the chance amazon could do the same.  It cost money to develop features for their services and they must somehow recoup it.   If it cannot be done under their current strategy, then it would change. 

[mike27oct]

I found the USA article interesting; especially since it was written by a law professor who appears to specialize in copyright laws. 

The situation with the Google product looks to be somewhat unique.  Maybe their lawyers told them if they have a financially unsuccessful product that they are not going to update or support anymore, yet allowed it to continue to be used by the folks who bought it, they could be liable for damages and they'd better shut it down.  Who knows. Gadgets that control things like lighting, A/C and heating, etc. could go haywire if not monitored, upgraded, fixed, etc. by Google anymore, could perhaps harm someone, or even burn down their house.  I feel this could well be the case here -- to absolve all liability from using the product anymore, so they HAVE to shut it down.  It is kind of crummy that it appears Google is giving the owners of the product no booby prize for the device having to be shut down by perhaps not even giving them a $20 credit at the Google Store. 

I was also appalled that the OP who was just expressing his concerns, got trounced on verbally by a Pot accusing the Kettle of being black and the OP was accused of "being unburdened by literacy skills you are ill-mannered and arrogant".  (but, wait, there was more said above . . . ) 
Parker, give us a break; ever since you recently appeared in this forum, you have shown yourself to be exactly this way.  Back off Dude, and let people ask their questions, voice their opinions and make their comments without you lighting into them like they just committed a major crime. You are giving programmers/software engineers a bad name, and Lord knows the general public regards them as being very likeable and sociable people for the most part.

This forum appears to be a one-man show, but at other forums for some major companies that have a raft of forum monitors, I assure you, you would have been asked more than once already to keep conversations friendly since we are all trying to help one another here.

[madcodger]

As an aside, I purchased an Amazon Kindle many years ago.  It had a little-used ability to transfer pdfs to it via a unique address.  As I understand it, that ability still exists.  And I believe that Kindle still updates, although I transferred to the iPad app years ago.  Amazon has been good about continuing support, and I respect them for that.  I will likely move my purchasing (and maybe my online searches) away from Google given their lack of "sticktoittiveness".  They did it with Health, they've done it with Revolv.  I think I'll just shop/search elsewhere, personally.  I can't use them for search, but for shopping Amazon seems like as good a choice as any, as I may as well support those that seem to want to support me.

[ScottinPollock]

Amazon is in business to sell me stuff. If they piss me off, it is simply a matter of a mouse click to steer my business elsewhere.

Obviously, Amazon knows this.

[DParker]

Parker, give us a break

Look, I realize that you're probably still steaming after being exposed as a phoney know-it-all with your "pure radio waves", WiFi for Bluetooth" and magical "Bluetooth audio signal" nonsense.  But you're allegedly an adult, so just get over it and maybe even outgrow the need to convince strangers on the Internet that you know more than you actually do.

As for this thread, my second response was to an unprovoked condescending comment directed at me, not to a question, so stop dishonestly claiming otherwise.  Unlike you I don't feel the need to tell people that the perfectly logical and reasonable things they're doing are "ridiculous", and that they should be too embarrassed to admit doing them.  Let's look at a few others from you, shall we?

OK Matt, just for you and anyone else you assume can't make the mental transition that my discussion was not about Comcast, but rather a remote Internet access feature one's ISP may provide, I added the following comment to my post above

It is stated in another Dot thread that someone ordered a Dot yesterday, and Amazon said, "out of stock until July".  Sorry, Pal, those who snooze, lose.

Did you even search this forum for the keyword, Bluetooth?  If you had, you would have found a dozen or so posts talking about it.

@renegade600
Speaking of holding water, you are all wet, acting like a troll, and digging your hole deeper here by expressing unfounded opinions and not facts.  I also don't need you telling me anything about marketing or the textbook business where I said I spent a 30 year career.  If you have a college degree, you used textbook published by my former employer; it is that big and important in the industry.  If you haven't been to college, you might consider doing so if you are still young enough.  It is a proven fact that college grads have higher incomes than those who aren't.

And, (I am not kidding now) BTW, who appointed you Hall Monitor of this useful, albeit obscure little forum?  Please chill out.

Do you live in the land of the midnight sun? 
Do you also want Alexa to make you breakfast if it is AM, or dinner if it is PM?

Seriously, put a digital clock on your bedside table.

Etc, etc.

You were saying something about pots and kettles?

[renegade600]

I found the USA article interesting; especially since it was written by a law professor who appears to specialize in copyright laws. 

The situation with the Google product looks to be somewhat unique.  Maybe their lawyers told them if they have a financially unsuccessful product that they are not going to update or support anymore, yet allowed it to continue to be used by the folks who bought it, they could be liable for damages and they'd better shut it down.  Who knows. Gadgets that control things like lighting, A/C and heating, etc. could go haywire if not monitored, upgraded, fixed, etc. by Google anymore, could perhaps harm someone, or even burn down their house.  I feel this could well be the case here -- to absolve all liability from using the product anymore, so they HAVE to shut it down.  It is kind of crummy that it appears Google is giving the owners of the product no booby prize for the device having to be shut down by perhaps not even giving them a $20 credit at the Google Store. 

I was also appalled that the OP who was just expressing his concerns, got trounced on verbally by a Pot accusing the Kettle of being black and the OP was accused of "being unburdened by literacy skills you are ill-mannered and arrogant".  (but, wait, there was more said above . . . ) 
Parker, give us a break; ever since you recently appeared in this forum, you have shown yourself to be exactly this way.  Back off Dude, and let people ask their questions, voice their opinions and make their comments without you lighting into them like they just committed a major crime. You are giving programmers/software engineers a bad name, and Lord knows the general public regards them as being very likeable and sociable people for the most part.

This forum appears to be a one-man show, but at other forums for some major companies that have a raft of forum monitors, I assure you, you would have been asked more than once already to keep conversations friendly since we are all trying to help one another here.

google did replace dropcams free when they dropped support for their original dropcam.  You cannot expect this from all the companies.  or even from google the next time it happens. 

http://support.dropcam.com/entries/76711595-Dropcam-Legacy-Camera-Replacement-Program

[jwlv]

It was nice of Google to replace old Dropcams for free.

There are other companies who will stop supporting older services and/or hardware even when the customer is still paying for it. One example that comes to mind is Metro PCS. A few years ago Metro PCS was one of Sprint's MVNOs. This means that Metro PCS pays Sprint a contacted amount to use its cellular towers. At that time, Metro PCS did not have any of its own towers. It was strictly bound to Sprint using their CDMA network. About two years ago, T-Mobile bought Metro PCS and started to shut down the CDMA network and switched to T-Mobile's own GSM network. The two networks are not compatible. A phone made for CDMA will not work on GSM, or vice-versa.  Any old CDMA phones from Metro PCS cannot be used any longer on Metro PCS. Some customers were offered a small trade-in for their old phones. But I still don't think it was a fair trade.