[the_moesiah]

Microsoft doesn't have any smart home products (aside from the thermostat that requires you to take it a second mortgage to buy it), so what exactly can I do with their Internet is Things protocol?

[xandros9]

I think it's more for manufacturers of IoT gadgets to build a product upon.

[the_moesiah]

I think it's more for manufacturers of IoT gadgets to build a product upon.

I guess that really gets the point of my question better than I did.

Are there any Windows IoT products? Is Microsoft doing anything from the consumer market that doesn't involve Xbox or Surface?

[Drael646464]

Yeah, it's not a protocol, it's an operating system. So you use windows 10 IoT to build out say, a smart watch, or smart thermostat (is it really expensive smartglass? I was real curious about that is it's the only thermostat that also measures air quality and uses outside weather data. Also a thermostat is like one of the only close to useful products in this genre that I can see. :/ if so) using windows 10. It can use cortana. It's for manufacturers, and perhaps also for tinkerers.


Smart devices don't specifically have to RUN the operating system they work with, they merely need to be compatible. There's no smart lightbulb running ios for example. They don't need to be made by the makers of the operating system either.

There is a small, but fairly comprehensive range of smart devices that work with windows and cortana, such as ecobee and phillips hue. There's a list somewhere on the blog page of this website that covers a lot of them. The harmon kardon speaker is noteworthy as the only windows based speaker.


Most things can be done, but you need to sort of design or pick whatever you are using for windows. That said, even with ios and android, you get stuff that is exclusive, so it's really not like you can just pick any smart device and not be mindful of what it works with.

There are propriety smart hub systems like Samsung, and apple - but probably the majority of smart stuff has some level of multiple OS/protocol compatibility.

[Ahoiiiiiiii]

Microsoft doesn't have any smart home products (aside from the thermostat that requires you to take it a second mortgage to buy it), so what exactly can I do with their Internet is Things protocol?

You pretend that Microsoft already has the hardware together for an ecosystem that addresses the developers that Microsoft needs for this ecosystem. It brings Apple and Google no more, that today they already use this field smart home with apps. It's all going to change. Wait. I miss your vision.

[DontBeEvil10]

Microsoft doesn't have any smart home products (aside from the thermostat that requires you to take it a second mortgage to buy it), so what exactly can I do with their Internet is Things protocol?

as usual they lost another train, after smart tv and in car entertainment

[Wevenhuis]

I don't think Windows IoT can do much for mainstream consumers. I think it might have it's value in certain businesses. As an example the GLAS theramostat has a lot of features that other "smart" thermosstats also have. I might be able to pull in weather data into the app and have a few more sensors. But with the latter I can imagine the compeition quickly filling in that gap. For me tieing into windows services and apps and being able to use Cortana voice would be reasons for me to use it as a consumer. Not sure how the former is, but Cortana language and region support is still poor, which for me means that windows 10 iot doesn't have value at this point in time. It is not a topic of conversation beyond that fact of the problem of Cortana not having an adequate language and region support to make it valuable in the practical and real world use. It remains a nice idea though.

[Drael646464]

I don't think Windows IoT can do much for mainstream consumers. I think it might have it's value in certain businesses. As an example the GLAS theramostat has a lot of features that other "smart" thermosstats also have. I might be able to pull in weather data into the app and have a few more sensors. But with the latter I can imagine the compeition quickly filling in that gap. For me tieing into windows services and apps and being able to use Cortana voice would be reasons for me to use it as a consumer. Not sure how the former is, but Cortana language and region support is still poor, which for me means that windows 10 iot doesn't have value at this point in time. It is not a topic of conversation beyond that fact of the problem of Cortana not having an adequate language and region support to make it valuable in the practical and real world use. It remains a nice idea though.

Cortana's speech recognition is still better than alexa, even when using other regional accents like Australian, british or US (if you just set your region to one that supports cortana). I can scarely even imagine how poor alexa would be in other languages. I mean I know MSFTs support for other regions is poor (whether it be bing or cortana), but I honestly can't understand the popularity of alexa, it's a mess - it barely gets anything right even when you are using exactly the accent in English it's designed for.

I think the main difference in glas is it's support of air quality, and thusly also it's connectivity with ventilation systems. Not sure it's worth the price tag, but then again, I don't see any real value in smart home products in general. A thermostat at least might save you power. But so does a normal thermostat, which is like 1/10th of the price. A smart fridge is really a PITA - who wants that and smart lighting is just gimmicky. A smart lock is little different in practice from a combination keypad lock. The amount of labour one is saving, is trivial, and the extra functionality mostly useless.

Even in the one use case where people might include such things, just because why not, like a new home build, barely anyone is using this stuff. I honestly thing IoT has way more application in business - where controlling factory lines, or power useage might have tangible benefits.


I've yet to heard of any smart home anything where I think - hey, that's useful. Probably home security is about it.

A hub or speaker is marginally useful, but really again, minor functionality and tiny labour saving, it's pretty much a gimmick. These things have a long way to go before they add any real value IMO for consumers.