Hi Samer,
Thanks for info on what OS depends on from the cloud. Why do I care so much?
#1: I want a reliable irrigation system that will run correctly regardless of the state of my local network and connectivity to the internet. No matter what else happens, except a loss of power, the controller will execute its program just like a traditional controller will. All the ease of use features and scheduling optimizations are great but it should be my choice to use features that carry additional risk. My system does not need to be dependent on them to water the landscape. Users should know what those dependencies are and what risk they take in using them. A simple and relatively insignificant example: If one uses sunrise to start a program, but the internet is down and has been down for a day or more, will the controller use a default value or the last value it had for sunrise? Is assume so. A few days difference in that time doesn’t matter but failing to execute because it couldn’t get a value would be bad.
I want any device that I put on my local network to behave reasonably well because bad behavior can affect other devices and capabilities that I depend on. I want to know what the devices in my network do and what if any security or privacy issues exist as a result so that I can take appropriate action. A simple example: I do not open ports up for external access. I use a vpn. Bit of a PIA, but worth it from my perspective. In any case, I get to make the choice about what capability I take advance of and what risk I’m willing to take.
I think that using the cloud for some capabilities is fine as long people who want to know what is done externally have the info and that it does not compromise #1. I can easily see that it’s easier, safer and in some case only possible to provide some features in the cloud vs having to do regular FW updates to deliver them and keep them up to date.