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Logitech To Shut Down 'Service and Support' For Harmony Link Devices In 2018 (arstechnica.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the cease-and-desist dept.

Logitech recently informed customers that it will be discontinuing service for its popular Harmony Link remote system, which allows users to control home theater and sound equipment from a mobile app. "Customers received an email explaining that Logitech will 'discontinue service and support' for the Harmony Link as of March 16, 2018, adding that Harmony Link devices 'will no longer function after this date,'" reports Ars Technica. From the report: While Logitech is offering a one-time, 35-percent discount on its Harmony Hub to affected customers that are out of warranty, that's not enough for Harmony Link users who are expressing their dissatisfaction on Logitech support forums and Reddit. Users have not experienced major problems with the Harmony Link system that would indicate they are approaching end of life. Harmony Link customers do not pay a subscription or service fee to use the device, either. The only reason provided comes from a Logitech employee with the username Logi_WillWong, who explains in a response post from September 8, 2017 that Logitech will not be renewing a "technology certificate license" that expires in March. No details were provided about how this certificate license allows the Harmony Link to function, but it appears that without it, those devices will not work as promised. "The certificate will not be renewed as we are focusing resources on our current app-based remote, the Harmony Hub," Logi_WillWong added, which seems to indicate that the shutting down of the Harmony Link system is a way to get more customers on the newer Harmony Hub system.

4 of 131 comments (clear)

  1. Concordance is nice but not the answer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    You didn't read the thing you linked to. To wit:

    This software allows you to program your Logitech Harmony remote using a configuration object retreived from the harmony website: http://members.harmonyremote.com/EasyZapper/

    The website is required. The website is required in Logitech's software as well, it's just that their software wraps the website. Their website has all the logic on what codes work with what remotes and what hardware, etc. The software just takes the binary blobs that the website makes and writes it to the remote control. This is true for both Logitech's software and this software.

    Logitech stops website, users of concordance are just as bereft as everyone else.

    In fact, you can't really start using concordance before you signed up through the windows-only logitech "app" because you can't do that directly through the website, or at least I couldn't, last time I tried. It just bitched about my browser.

  2. Same as the old Squeezebox product line by Flexagon · · Score: 5, Informative

    Logitech has a history of this behavior. It did the same thing to its old Squeezebox product line, dropping hardware support and moving one of its remaining products (the Radio) to new software they thought would sell better (UE Smart Radio). It didn't. Fortunately, the original software was not as entangled with the Logitech-hosted service as the Harmony remotes, and both the server and client software are open source as well. So now there's ongoing support for the software, and other companies are making audio devices that are compatible with it. My setup continues to work just fine years after Logitech bailed. And my newest Squeezebox device is a RaspberryPi.

    But I did research the software side of the Squeezebox product line before I originally purchased, expecting that there was a very good probability that the devices that I bought would possibly far outlast Logitech's stomach for supporting their devices (typically 5 years for consumer products). And it was the availability of open source software that clinched my decision to go with the product. One must really think twice when buying a consumer product with software in it, and thrice if that software depends on a cloud service or even regular updates.

    Even otherwise simple standalone devices that have a settable timezone are exciting again, with the New England states beginning to consider dropping twice-a-year DST related changes. Can you update the software's timezone table when jurisdictions make these kinds of changes?

    1. Re:Same as the old Squeezebox product line by BenFranske · · Score: 3, Informative

      Yep, I was all in on Squeezebox too and never regretted going with it instead of Sonos. A major reason I bought all the Squeezebox stuff was the open source backend to it which I knew would keep going even if Logitech disappeared. This is doubly important with a big system made up of a lot of components like a whole house music system or a home automation system. I simply refuse to buy anything in these areas which requires a vendor remain supportive in order for it to function. The investment in a system like this is a long term play and consumer electronics vendors just don't have a track record for long term support.

      I will say that I keep hoping for a community rewrite of LMS because it is quite long in the tooth and has some substantial drawbacks these days over other solutions. Alternatively, I hope for some entirely new whole house music project which will still work with my existing Squeeze devices but has a mobile friendly website, better API for integrating with automation, etc. If I was starting over again I would probably look at Music Player Daemon, but I do like having a centralized web control panel which it is lacking and no one has really good open source hardware projects that connect to it to create something usable without an app at all like the Squeeze devices can be...

  3. Re:Glad I don't own one! by green1 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Unfortunately the cable company remotes can't compete with the feature set of something like a harmony. This isn't the case of a remote with 4 power buttons across the top or something, it really is a better remote in that with a single button it will turn a group of devices on, and change them all to the correct inputs for a specific activity, and when changing activities it will remember the current state of devices to change only the appropriate settings to support the new activity (e.g. if you're watching Netflix through a WD Live box and want to switch to listening to a CD, it will turn off the TV, but leave the surround sound system on, turn off the WD box, turn on the CD player, change the input on the surround sound system, and change the mode on the sound system to music instead of movie.)

    Worse yet, there isn't nearly as much competition in this space as you might think, Logitech really is the massively dominant player here. I really like my Harmony remote, but I've always been worried about the cloud dependence (enough that I probably wouldn't have bought it myself, but when I got it as a gift I've enjoyed it) If/when I have to replace it though, I'm not sure exactly what I'll do. With my current setup I'd need 6 remotes without the Harmony, and 4 of those are needed just for the simple task of watching TV (and the cable company remote won't reliably control ANY of my devices other than their own cable box)