Having read the article I definitely disagree with the idea we need more subscriptions in order for manufacturers to manage expectations. I pay a subscription to Google for cloud storage as itās cheap. I was annoyed Ifttt switched to a subscription. I donāt pay Samsung, Apple or Amazon any subscriptions although I buy their hardware because it is good quality and āfreeā cloud is included. I am generally satisfied with my data privacy with these companies.
Hopefully the matter standard will deliver the interoperability we all hope for without a multitude of subscriptions!
Agree! Subscriptions for things you āownā are annoying.
I do understand that a device which requires a bunch of cloud infrastructure to operate needs to have an income stream to match. But not everything needs to be built that way.
For instance, thereās no technical reason the SmartThings app needs a round-trip to the cloud when itās on the same IP network as the hub. But, as @JDRoberts points out, thatās the way they designed it.
I thought this was an excellent article and an interesting viewpoint. (Although Iād rather see industries adopt this stuff as best practices, than be forced to by regulation. However, since Stacey is now working with consumer reports, I expect to see a lot of pro regulation stuff from her going forward.)
Personally, Iāve taken a somewhat different approach, as Iāve mentioned in the forum before. I now make the assumption for both budgeting and peace of mind purposes that since the home automation industry is changing so rapidly, anything I buy, I only expect to last for three years before I want to replace it.
Maybe Iāll replace it because the company has stopped offering a feature I wanted, maybe Iāll replace it because there are new and shiny features that this particular device doesnāt have. ( voice control, matter, whatever) so I donāt try to future proof and I donāt expect it to last the way a solely hardware purchase would.
I picked a three-year cycle because thatās pretty similar to mobile phones, and I felt comfortable with it.
That doesnāt mean the company might not surprise me and suddenly drop a feature that I like a few months after I bought something, but if itās still in the warranty period, Most companies will have some kind of compensation process.
Anyway, this approach has worked really well for me. I base my monthly budget on the maximum I want to spend on home automation and evaluate any new purchase based on an expected three-year lifecycle. Of course, if the device is useful for longer than three years, thatās great: it just means more money in the home automation budget to check out shiny new stuff. 
but in general, this approach keeps my spending under control and my blood pressure even as companies make changes in direction.
Note that I apply that three-year rule even to a Hub or a home automation platform in general. Iām using quite a different mix now than I did 4 years ago, and a very different mix than I did 4 years before that. and Iām OK with that.
Anyway, I donāt disagree with the suggestions that Stacey has made. But I think it will be quite a long time before we see those applied throughout the home automation industry. Meanwhile, by changing my own budgeting criteria I have something I can do now to maintain my peace of mind (and my budget) throughout the many changes that keep happening.
FWIWā¦.