[mrlinx]

In 2025, can't believe there's still no open-source alternative to these devices.

[danilopopeye]

I’ve been meaning to try the Home Assistant new voice control[1] for a while. Do you consider it open-source enough? :)

1. https://www.home-assistant.io/voice_control/

[verytrivial]

They're hardware projections into your living space of a massive system run by Amazon. It's the massive system that open-source will have trouble replicating.

[herculity275]

Most people use Echos as voice controlled music players with occasional smart assistant functionality, this shouldn't be too hard to replicate in OSS. You could argue that the extend to which they're not making you buy into the Amazon ecosystem is a major failure of the product line.

[mrlinx]

Spotify multi-speaker playing + a LLM answering questions would cover what 80% of people need.

[NoboruWataya]

The most serious project I knew in this space was Mycroft, but I just looked it up and they ceased development due to a patent troll.

[zahlman]

It's still honestly amazing to me that people buy, or want, devices like this, even before considering the downsides. I mean, I don't even like leaving voicemail messages. So the idea of talking to nobody in particular, within my own home, to cause something to happen, totally freaks me out. I really don't need more excuses for physical laziness, either.

[victorbjorklund]

Not exactly the same but there is Home assistant voice.

[general1465]

What would be the use case?

[toast0]

Voice activated timers / clocks and unit conversions are handy in the kitchen.

[IAmBroom]

The same as Amazon's devices. Odd question.