I don't have any Hue devices so I don't follow that too closely, but there's quite a bit of info on the changes at The Verge which is linked on top of that previous blog post on my comment. Apparently you'll need an account to get firmware updates and enabling functionality, but not continous connectivity.
But maybe more important point here is that they have changed their policy and there's nothing stopping them from changing it again, potentially even removing functionality unless you use their app.