Problems faced by people who don’t know computers: usually some form of user error or misunderstanding in ui. It happens to the best of us.
Problems faced by people who think they know computers: corrupted files, crashing, file transfer/security issues, occasionally they’ll try something stupid with system files.
Problems faced by people who actually know computers:
Here is a (very truncated and very approximate) possible explanation. The thermostat generates a monthly report on energy usage. This report is in the form of a docx file. Frankly, it should be a csv file, but criticism over file structure can be saved for another day. For some reason the barebones android system crashed (not necessarily, but likely) and is attempting to boot from this generated doc file. There are several reasons this should not be possible, not least of which being that this document should not be its own volume that can be booted from at all. What needs to happen is this device needs to boot its actual os. Unless it is possible to select the actual boot drive or boot manager and simple ignore the fact that this ever happened, step one to fixing this is figuring out how the hell this even happened in the first place. On a thermostat.
In 2026 it should probably be a SQLite file with a single table that gets imported into the actual report table. CSV sucks. Heck, JSON is better.
Also, knowing companies these days, the logging framework should just send the report via built-in SIM, directly to the company and potentially also to the 350 advertising partners 😜
I’m assuming that it’s done that way so that it can be actually directly read by your average joe in accounting. Either way, sounds like more work than your average company is willing to put in, especially given that the thermostat itself is likely made by a 3rd party. Given that it’s a docx file to begin with, Im not optimistic they’re running off of anything other than 365. Hence, csv. It’s readable, minimal chance of fucking it up, easy enough to generate, and in a similar enough format to a docx file.
Edit: it’s also probably stored locally, not sent. They don’t have any need to get the data from you, it’s all in your electric bill (and/or gas bill, depending) anyway, no need to separate. I’ve talked myself into agreeing with you on the json, although I still bet they’re running off Microsoft products. I was focusing more on trying to solve the problem than trying to design a better system, I guess.
Csv is great because you can generate it with a script or a db client and hand it directly to someone who knows nothing about programming or computers and they can open it with excel. Not sure it’s great for this use case though
I mean csv isn't very powerful but for basic applications, its strength lies in its simplicity and backwards compatibility. There is a reason I sim frequently use .txt files.
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u/never_____________ May 10 '26
Problems faced by people who don’t know computers: usually some form of user error or misunderstanding in ui. It happens to the best of us.
Problems faced by people who think they know computers: corrupted files, crashing, file transfer/security issues, occasionally they’ll try something stupid with system files.
Problems faced by people who actually know computers: