The end of Neato is nigh.

Vorwerk, the company that purchased Neato robovacs, is reneging on its promise to keep the bots’ server running for 5 years.

In an email obtained by The Verge, Neato Robotics explained the decision to users, stating, “Since Neato ceased operations in 2023, Vorwerk has continued maintaining the Neato cloud platform to honor the original five-year service promise. However, cybersecurity standards, compliance obligations, and regulations have advanced in ways that make it no longer possible to safely and sustainably operate these legacy systems.”

  • Zachariah@lemmy.world
    21·
    1 month ago

    When these companies want to cease updates and shutdown their servers, they should be required to:

    1. Provide a path to install open source or third party firmware
    2. Fully document the communication with the the device requires to function
    3. Allow pointing the device at an open source or third party server
  • MotoAsh@piefed.socialEnglish
    20·
    1 month ago

    A cloud service meeting the obvious end of life IS NOT enshittification. A product that requires a cloud which is not entirely about centralized communication was already shit.

    • JensSpahnpasta@feddit.org
      1·
      8 days ago

      I have to disagree - the robots are still working. People paid good money for them. The company is not broke, they are still alive and profitable. There is not obvious end of life here.

      • MotoAsh@piefed.socialEnglish
        1·
        7 days ago

        You misunderstand. I’m not saying the robots have zero value. I’m saying if they’re designed to only have decent functionality with a cloud connection, when they could otherwise have basically full function without it, is a product designed to fail. Not a device with zero value, but a product that is enshittified on delivery.