In the “Internet of Things” era, many of the physical electronic artifacts that we purchase function only in tandem with a service component provided by a vendor — even if that component is only the timely release of software updates. In time, the vendor shifts attention to newer models, or is otherwise forced by business realities to abandon support for the artifact, leaving us with devices superannuated not so much by necessity as happenstance. Luckily, sometimes, the open source community can step in with a fix.
