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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.

2 of 131 comments (clear)

  1. This is cloud appliancing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Better get used to it. It's the future!

  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?