Product Changes for 2017

I’m on it…

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It would be cheaper :smiling_imp: to send those few Window phone users an Android based phone than pay for and maintain the code for a separate platform.

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Oh we can and have some. But their time is better spent elsewhere. Per hour spent it is much more cost effective to focus on Android and iOS.

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First, I work as an engineer in Microsoft. Check my GitHub profile for proof. Disclaimer: I DO NOT OFFICIALLY REPRESENT MICROSOFT HERE.

Okay, now that that’s out of the way…

I totally get the cost/benefit analysis you guys had to do. I feel like you’re missing an important point - While Windows phones are all but dead, UWP would have opened the door for you guys to have your client on Windows desktops, laptops, and tablets, Xbox, and HoloLens. Xbox alone would have been a KILLER app, particularly if you included Cortana integration.

I have many, many contacts in the open source community within Microsoft and without. Would you please consider open sourcing the app that you have today? Given proper constraints (like, changing the the app to use OAuth so there’s no direct handling of logon information and being very clear that the app is not written or supported by SmartThings), I’m certain we could put together a community that would be happy to maintain it for free, myself included.

Please keep this in mind. I will do anything I can to facilitate such a transition.

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He-he. I believe it’s actually the real reason they’ve decided to kill Windows app. They don’t want ST running on Xbox because it would put them in direct competition with NVIDIA Shield. Conflict of interest, you know. :wink:

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Pure guess here, but I’m betting that based on this comment the mobile apps aren’t written with Xamarin or it would be easy to keep native versions alive for Windows Phone alongside Android and iOS.

Yeah, that’s a good point too. :slight_smile:

I’ve said before in another thread that I was shocked that the Windows Phone app was even as supported as it was, so this decision doesn’t surprise me at all. That being said, I’d feel a lot better about continuing to use an unsupported version if the bug where the app signs me out every time I open it didn’t exist, so that I could continue to keep the app around to get push notifications.

Overall though, the strategy I would suggest for other people who still use a Windows phone (my main device is a 950XL): a cheap Android device of any kind has always been far better for doing device/automation setup anyway. It was unreliable doing any of that from my Lumia from the start. Second, the “Home Remote” app works really well for manual control of devices. It’s UWP, supports Cortana, and works far better than the dedicated ST app. (And if you want custom defined Cortana triggers, there’s the “Cortrigga” app which lets you define custom phrases to send commands to IFTTT). And third, if you need presence, you’ll get a far better experience with a dedicated arrival tag than you ever did from the Windows Phone app’s presence detection.

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First of all, thank you Smartthigs for having the courage to make such announcement and being open and clear on the fact you will no longer support Windows users.

At least, that give us about 3 to6 months to move away from Smartthings to an alternative home hub…

  • Where is the 1.7 version you announced (this is not in the windows store)? The sign me out bug every time I want to use the Mobile app bugs me!

  • Can Anyone recommend a hub Alternative that support Windows 10 ecosystem? Vera seems to have an Universal App for their VeraPlus (and has Bluettooth etc)…

  • Does anyone in the smartthings community can recommend / has experience with other platform supporting Windows 10 users?

Thanks.

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The “Home Remote” app I mentioned supports a wide variety of hardware (looking at the in app list, it supports Ecobee, Honeywell Lyric, Insteon, LIFX, Harmony Hub, MyQ, Nest, Osram Lightify, Philips Hue, SmartThings, Sonos, Vera, Wemo, Wink, and a bunch of AV receivers). That being said, if you’re looking for an ecosystem with native Windows support, good ******* luck. Windows is not going to be a priority for any of these companies. Windows 10 supposedly has support for a protocol that is intended to be universal (that I can’t think of the name of), but there hasn’t been much movement in that direction.

Edit: I was thinking of AllJoyn.

I’m quite sure there is a heck of a lot of proprietary trade-secrets in the App(s), including the Windows mobile App.

A non-employee developer could be engaged by Contract, including an NDA, but “opening source” is a highly unlikely option. As for why not Contract … well… that’s the same answer as why not use an employee. Cost (or even just the “management effort”) vs. benefit.

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First they lose their windows app, then they can look forward to smart/action tiles most likely becoming a paid or subscription based app in 2017. :joy:

Did I miss the “good” to go with the bad?

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The good is the bad was posted :smiley:

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There was nothing good to come from this announcement. I think they knew that too. But it was the bandaid that had to be ripped off. There was no way to say anything they said without upsetting someone. Even if they threw in something crazy exciting, you’d still get that 1% upset and in here complaining.

While I have been super critical of lots of bugs that are still on going (Hue delay between bulbs is a major one going on 4 months now)… I kinda felt bad when I saw that this post was made because no one is going to say “great job, now lets move on”.

I think we all saw the migration tool being dead. Windows phone, well I know 2 people with windows phones so yea. And the default marketplace has been useless for a year or so. At no point did I look in the marketplace and find something worth using outside SmartLighting or the require Hue connect.

So I’m just sorry @slagle has to take this flack. Friday the 13th. Hope people forget by Monday or something. We won’t get anymore ‘promises’ from ST, thats been said many times. They shot themselves in the foot too many times with ‘we are working on X’ and 6 months go by without any updates despite everyone thinking its being released tomorrow. Sucks that when you are a young scrappy startup you can do those sort of things. Now you have to act like a corporation and hold the cards close.

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Two more than I know :wink:

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Unfortunately, my significant other does (worked for Microsoft for years and he’s quite happy with the UI and seamless Microsoft services integrations)… but it is an inconvenience in a SmartThings home.

Certainly an inspiration to install Alexa’s and SmartTiles around the house.

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I just happened to check the batteries today in my hub and they were leaking. My V2 hub is less than 6 months old. Glad I caught it before it was too bad.
Edit: Rayovac Bayteries

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Amidst all the hand-wringing here (including my own) I do want to note that I do appreciate that ST came out w/a statement. That combined w/the recent coordinated activity around the issues w/CoRE is encouraging.

Plans that companies announce frequently change, but it is not that frequent that they very publicly and openly acknowledge the changes like this.

So you have that going for you. (Sorry, couldn’t resist.) :wink:

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The other thing to recommend here is Home Remote. It’s not perfect, but it does a decent enough job so long as you don’t need SmartApps. It also integrates with Cortana. It’s a little picky about phrasing, though.

It has its own designer, so you can design custom interfaces, too.

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