<story><title>My dishwasher won’t start until I let it update its firmware over the WiFi</title><url>https://twitter.com/isislovecruft/status/1487947074901463040</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jancsika</author><text>&amp;gt; To be fair, it could also get functionality updates&lt;p&gt;This is an important point that owners[1] sometimes miss.&lt;p&gt;For example, if the owner makes a deal to partner with the maker of a particular detergent tab, the owner could create a new feature that only works with those tabs and not regular powder detergent.&lt;p&gt;1: Owner: the person who owns the firmware being sent over WiFi.</text></item><item><author>pmontra</author><text>To be fair, it could also get functionality updates. For example they could upload a new totally different UX loved by the designers and that nobody else understands how to use ;-)</text></item><item><author>michaelt</author><text>&lt;i&gt;&amp;gt; The Wi-Fi is useful [...] Performs updates, etc.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ah yes, get wifi so your dishwasher can get security updates, which you need because your dishwasher is on wifi.</text></item><item><author>buro9</author><text>Looks like a Miele. That menu can be exited (the image where it says &amp;quot;Software Update&amp;quot;, the tiny bit on the right... that&amp;#x27;s a scroll bar of multiple options including the ability to exit this menu), but it does imply that the dishwasher is already connected to Wi-Fi and that it has determined that there is an update available.&lt;p&gt;There are few times that a dishwasher is interacted with, if not when you go into the menu to start it then when? It&amp;#x27;s just asking &amp;quot;Do you want to do this now?&amp;quot; if not that is fine (the menu can be exited), but now you know to do it later.&lt;p&gt;Alternatively as the dishwasher clearly is on Wi-Fi already (the only way it would know there&amp;#x27;s an update), one can use the Miele@Home app to perform the update at a more convenient time.&lt;p&gt;I have a Miele dishwasher, it is connected to Wi-Fi (on a VLAN with other white goods, outbound connections to certain domains only). The Wi-Fi is useful... the dishwasher auto-doses the powder, rinse aid, salt, etc... and can let me know the levels of those. In addition it tells me when the cycle is done. Performs updates, etc. There&amp;#x27;s a Home Assistant integration too, but I&amp;#x27;ve not done that (my VLAN setup prevented it!).&lt;p&gt;PS: If you&amp;#x27;re of the opinion that a dishwasher doesn&amp;#x27;t need to be on Wi-Fi and you wouldn&amp;#x27;t connect it... then great, that&amp;#x27;s another way not to be asked to do an update. This dishwasher isn&amp;#x27;t going to ask to connect to Wi-Fi, it&amp;#x27;s something you choose to do (something that takes a degree of determination I might add).</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ff317</author><text>Yeah but usually what happens is that no new development of that sort occurs during the (intentionally limited by cheaped-out hardware design) lifetime of the appliance.  If they do push any updates, they&amp;#x27;ll either be to fix security problems (only if you&amp;#x27;re lucky enough that they get fixed at all), or they&amp;#x27;ll push some horrible software feature users didn&amp;#x27;t ask for which worsens their experience vs how it operated when purchased and brings new bugs.  Appliance manufacturers are terrible at firmware&amp;#x2F;software.  You get all the downsides and none of the upsides.</text></comment>
<story><title>My dishwasher won’t start until I let it update its firmware over the WiFi</title><url>https://twitter.com/isislovecruft/status/1487947074901463040</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jancsika</author><text>&amp;gt; To be fair, it could also get functionality updates&lt;p&gt;This is an important point that owners[1] sometimes miss.&lt;p&gt;For example, if the owner makes a deal to partner with the maker of a particular detergent tab, the owner could create a new feature that only works with those tabs and not regular powder detergent.&lt;p&gt;1: Owner: the person who owns the firmware being sent over WiFi.</text></item><item><author>pmontra</author><text>To be fair, it could also get functionality updates. For example they could upload a new totally different UX loved by the designers and that nobody else understands how to use ;-)</text></item><item><author>michaelt</author><text>&lt;i&gt;&amp;gt; The Wi-Fi is useful [...] Performs updates, etc.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ah yes, get wifi so your dishwasher can get security updates, which you need because your dishwasher is on wifi.</text></item><item><author>buro9</author><text>Looks like a Miele. That menu can be exited (the image where it says &amp;quot;Software Update&amp;quot;, the tiny bit on the right... that&amp;#x27;s a scroll bar of multiple options including the ability to exit this menu), but it does imply that the dishwasher is already connected to Wi-Fi and that it has determined that there is an update available.&lt;p&gt;There are few times that a dishwasher is interacted with, if not when you go into the menu to start it then when? It&amp;#x27;s just asking &amp;quot;Do you want to do this now?&amp;quot; if not that is fine (the menu can be exited), but now you know to do it later.&lt;p&gt;Alternatively as the dishwasher clearly is on Wi-Fi already (the only way it would know there&amp;#x27;s an update), one can use the Miele@Home app to perform the update at a more convenient time.&lt;p&gt;I have a Miele dishwasher, it is connected to Wi-Fi (on a VLAN with other white goods, outbound connections to certain domains only). The Wi-Fi is useful... the dishwasher auto-doses the powder, rinse aid, salt, etc... and can let me know the levels of those. In addition it tells me when the cycle is done. Performs updates, etc. There&amp;#x27;s a Home Assistant integration too, but I&amp;#x27;ve not done that (my VLAN setup prevented it!).&lt;p&gt;PS: If you&amp;#x27;re of the opinion that a dishwasher doesn&amp;#x27;t need to be on Wi-Fi and you wouldn&amp;#x27;t connect it... then great, that&amp;#x27;s another way not to be asked to do an update. This dishwasher isn&amp;#x27;t going to ask to connect to Wi-Fi, it&amp;#x27;s something you choose to do (something that takes a degree of determination I might add).</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>bee_rider</author><text>And just general bug updates. Remember how buggy appliances used to be, back in the bad old days when they were too simple to run whole operating systems? A couple months after release these things will be mostly free of glitches!</text></comment>