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Bose open-sources its SoundTouch home theater smart speakers ahead of end-of-life (arstechnica.com)
submitted 10 months ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] 294 points 10 months ago* (20 children)

"Open source" really isn't the right term here, if they're just releasing API specifications. "Open sourcing" the speakers would be releasing the source code to the software that runs on the speakers.

Like, all of Microsoft's libraries on Windows have a publicly-documented interface. That hardly makes them open source. Just means that people can write software that make use of them.

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  • [–] 30 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    Indeed it's misleading wording but credit where credit is due, this is far better than turning them all into e-waste. It's not like anyone bought these with the assumption they would have any sort of official API someday, especially after seeing how Sonos handled their similar situation...

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  • [–] 19 points 10 months ago

    It’s misleading wording by arse-technica, not Bose. The quoted wording from Nosebis correct and it looks like they’re doing the right thing. After originally announcing they would be dumb speakers, now they’ll continue to be useful and third party apps can continue to use them. Applaud Bose for doing the right thing

    Direct your Boos to arse-technica

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  • [–] 71 points 10 months ago (3 children)

    Yes, the correct term for this would be “open api”

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  • [–] 11 points 10 months ago

    There is a Soundtouch extension to Music Assistant, which which is part of Home Assistant. Last I checked the developer is unsure how functional the wireless speakers will be after the app shutdown.

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  • [+] -75 points 10 months ago (13 children)

    I appreciate the distinction, but open source is always a spectrum, so I think the description is a reasonable application here.

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  • [–] 52 points 10 months ago (2 children)

    but open source is always a spectrum

    Is it? I’ve only ever heard “open source” to refer to the source code being released.

    Maybe there’s a different term they meant to say other than “open source”

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  • [–] 45 points 10 months ago

    But the source code isn't available. The source isn't open. It's not open-source, by definition.

    The "spectrum" you refer to us about how free you are to publicly make use of the code, not whether or not you even have the code.

    This situation does not fall inside that spectrum.

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  • [–] 18 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (3 children)

    open source is always a spectrum

    It most definitely is not.

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  • [–] 19 points 10 months ago (2 children)

    It is a spectrum (MIT vs GPL vs APL for example) but this is outside that spectrum.

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  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    That is not a spectrum of open source. They are all open source, as in you can access the source code without restriction. These licenses just limit what you can do with the source code.

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  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago

    Well, yeah. That’s what the spectrum is.

    Low end: “you can see the source but can’t do anything with it” (questionable whether this counts as open source at all)

    High end “do what you want, it’s literally yours” (public domain).

    One can debate where the low boundary of “open source” is, or what makes one license more or less free than another, but the spectrum is the range of limitations.

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