Microsoft Backs Open Source For the Internet of Things

dcblogs writes Microsoft has joined a Linux Foundation effort to create an open platform for the Internet of Things. The AllSeen Alliance is an effort to standardize device communications. The code that it champions, called AllJoyn, was initially developed by Qualcomm but was subsequently made open source. Big vendors have been recruited to support it, and the AllSeen Alliance now includes LG, Panasonic, Sharp and Haier, among others. Its Xbox gaming platform is seen as a potential hub or control center for home devices. Microsoft's leadership in computing "and its significant Xbox business make it a potentially important contributor to the AllSeen ecosystem," said said Andy Castonguay, an analyst at Machina Research, a Reading, England-based research firm focusing on machine-to-machine (M2M) communications and the Internet of Things.

Comments

Re:They know the "Internet of Things" is a failure

[Ol Olsoc]

I tend to agree with you but not to the paranoid extent you are taking it.

More to the point, I can see this being touted for home security (being able to enable / disable security systems from your phone, turn on and off lights, etc.) but that won't take off until they can guarantee the security of the Internet (which is something no company can do).

When I think of the internet of things, I think of those home security systems from Comcast, where the happy smiling mother breaths a sigh of relief that she just saw her children get home from school. Life is good.

Wait until people see how this backfires. For those old enough to remember when only the wealthy had cell phones, there was a time whne we could envision being out of touch for a while. Hell, that was the only way I got Sundays off, by hopping in the car to not be reachable by phone. Fast forward to today. I've seen people drop into a cold sweat when their phones show no bars. "What if someone needs to get hold of me? Jesus, can't you take a route that has towers along the whole route?" Even me, if I forget my phone now, the wife freaks out.

Now imagine that happy smiling woman (for some sexist reason they always use women in these commercials) who after a few days of seeing that her children are at home, suddenly starts becoming concerned if something might happen to the house when she isn't looking. What if a fire breaks out, or someone breaks into the house while the children are home? So just like cell phones which are now a permanent fixture of the generation that never looked up, we will have home security addicts, afraid to ever look away from their screen. Maybe even demanding another screen at work so they never have the home out of site.

Soon the only time they won't be anxiously monitoring their house will be when they are there. Soon, no more happy smiling parents, just anxious nervous wrecks who can't even check facebook any more, lest something happen while they aren't' looking.

And just wait until some smartass rebellious teenager comes home, is pissed off because mommy is monitoring, and decides to moon or flash the camera. Instant kiddie pr0n! broadcast right to the cubicle. Oh, boy, the boss is mad at the unsmiling miserable woman.

History!

[Altrag]

1. Embrace <-- you are here
2. Extend
3. Extinguish