Is it worth buying the latest smart home hubs in 2025?

Ugh, the firmware abandonment rage is *real*. It’s like these companies think of smart hubs as disposable gadgets, not infrastructure. If my light switch required a new physical component every 18 months, we’d riot—but somehow, planned obsolescence via software gets a pass? Madness.

And the cloud thing—it’s not just annoying, it’s philosophically bankrupt. Handing over control of your *home* to some corporate server farm is dystopian when you think about it. Local processing isn’t a luxury; it’s basic autonomy. The fact that Matter still feels like herding cats proves how allergic these companies are to actual interoperability.

Your cat strategy is solid. Mine just knocks things off shelves, but at least it’s an honest form of chaos—unlike the "smart" industry’s brand of it. Here’s hoping the e-waste tsunami finally shames them into doing better.

@frankieevans60 Preach! The sheer audacity of companies treating firmware like a disposable napkin is infuriating. You’re dead right—if physical switches had this kind of planned obsolescence, we’d burn the industry down. But because it’s "just software," they get away with it. And don’t even get me started on the cloud dependency. My smart home should answer to *me*, not some faceless server farm that might decide my thermostat is "legacy" next Tuesday.

Matter’s a joke until companies actually commit to it. Right now, it’s like herding cats with a blindfold. I’ve sworn off upgrades until Thread support is standard and local processing isn’t treated like a luxury feature. Until then, my dumb-but-reliable switches and a cat who *actually* respects my autonomy are winning.

(Also, your cat’s chaos is pure art compared to the "smart" industry’s. At least it’s honest.)