Yeah I was thinking of doing my own cctv instead of paying someone to have access to my ring cameras. Okay now I need a raspberry pi, new cameras, a server, compatible software and some gumption. Havent got around to it
As someone who self hosts I understand the economies of scale that would allow it to be much cheaper to make products tied to cloud service. For example my servers for my house could easily support my entire extended family and more.
But of course, that profit isn’t enough, and they all double dip into selling their customers’ privacy.
I get what you’re saying, but I’m not talking about SaaS products. I’m talking about physical things on local networks that don’t need cloud access.
For example, a common wall switch may use mqtt internally, but inexplicably railroad all commands through the online Tuya platform. The device requires a beefier ESP chip as a result. It must be capable of ethernet and async workflows for client platform auth, token refresh, and so forth. It may even cease functioning when it can’t reach the servers.
By comparison, the strictly intranetwork equivalent has far simpler hardware that can run for months on a watch battery. And yet, the cloud-based product will basically always be cheaper, in spite of being more complex and requiring cloud infrastructure.
So, how come? Yes economies of scale might apply to the hardware manufacturing, but certainly not to the cloud requirement. No economy scales quite like 0.
Doesn’t mqtt need a broker? (A server?) For me, putting mosquito in a docker or a pi isn’t a problem but that’s not plug and play for a regular person. Because once you introduce a server like that, it needs security patches and becomes a point of failure out of control of the iot vendor. I know I wouldn’t want to take the tech support call when the iot device doesn’t work and have to walk them through debugging a pi.
Yes, I only used mqtt because it’s a common low-level protocol in smart appliances that’s comparatively simple. A more accessible example might have been Smart TVs being half the price of dumb ones (if you can even find them now) since the principle is the same.
I agree that support is one of the main things cloud legitimately makes easier. Support personnel have more reliable case data, more robust central control, and so forth.
And I think you’ll agree many smart home folks already have/had hubs and bridges (servers) floating around that obfuscate most of that complexity without the need for always-on WAN access. Remote maintenance (patches, firmware updates, etc) don’t necessarily preclude a plug and play experience.
Whether this accounts for the cost and complexity differential consumers experience can be debated, but my point was simpler. Cloud-based products are artificially subsidized in at least two ways. The first is that they’re a loss leader facilitating platform lock-in, but the second is that rich usage data from intimate user contexts is quite valuable to the endless parade of marketing voyeurs.
And self hosting can also be cheaper, unless you’re a huge consumer of the service. How many people watch enough Netflix to make the sub cheaper than buying the media instead? We cancelled Disney Plus and bought the few series they like and we’ve already saved money.
Economies of scale are absolutely a thing, but I think there’s a sweet spot where self hosting can be cheaper for a lot of people.
Everything related to consumer IoT is more expensive and/or difficult to implement as a local-only service.
But that doesn’t make any sense. Why would cloud access make anything cheaper?
Hmmmmm
Yeah I was thinking of doing my own cctv instead of paying someone to have access to my ring cameras. Okay now I need a raspberry pi, new cameras, a server, compatible software and some gumption. Havent got around to it
As someone who self hosts I understand the economies of scale that would allow it to be much cheaper to make products tied to cloud service. For example my servers for my house could easily support my entire extended family and more.
But of course, that profit isn’t enough, and they all double dip into selling their customers’ privacy.
I get what you’re saying, but I’m not talking about SaaS products. I’m talking about physical things on local networks that don’t need cloud access.
For example, a common wall switch may use mqtt internally, but inexplicably railroad all commands through the online Tuya platform. The device requires a beefier ESP chip as a result. It must be capable of ethernet and async workflows for client platform auth, token refresh, and so forth. It may even cease functioning when it can’t reach the servers.
By comparison, the strictly intranetwork equivalent has far simpler hardware that can run for months on a watch battery. And yet, the cloud-based product will basically always be cheaper, in spite of being more complex and requiring cloud infrastructure.
So, how come? Yes economies of scale might apply to the hardware manufacturing, but certainly not to the cloud requirement. No economy scales quite like 0.
Doesn’t mqtt need a broker? (A server?) For me, putting mosquito in a docker or a pi isn’t a problem but that’s not plug and play for a regular person. Because once you introduce a server like that, it needs security patches and becomes a point of failure out of control of the iot vendor. I know I wouldn’t want to take the tech support call when the iot device doesn’t work and have to walk them through debugging a pi.
Yes, I only used mqtt because it’s a common low-level protocol in smart appliances that’s comparatively simple. A more accessible example might have been Smart TVs being half the price of dumb ones (if you can even find them now) since the principle is the same.
I agree that support is one of the main things cloud legitimately makes easier. Support personnel have more reliable case data, more robust central control, and so forth.
And I think you’ll agree many smart home folks already have/had hubs and bridges (servers) floating around that obfuscate most of that complexity without the need for always-on WAN access. Remote maintenance (patches, firmware updates, etc) don’t necessarily preclude a plug and play experience.
Whether this accounts for the cost and complexity differential consumers experience can be debated, but my point was simpler. Cloud-based products are artificially subsidized in at least two ways. The first is that they’re a loss leader facilitating platform lock-in, but the second is that rich usage data from intimate user contexts is quite valuable to the endless parade of marketing voyeurs.
And self hosting can also be cheaper, unless you’re a huge consumer of the service. How many people watch enough Netflix to make the sub cheaper than buying the media instead? We cancelled Disney Plus and bought the few series they like and we’ve already saved money.
Economies of scale are absolutely a thing, but I think there’s a sweet spot where self hosting can be cheaper for a lot of people.