from Hacker News

Many connected devices support some sort of open or otherwise cross-platform protocol for the service they provide, but quite a lot of them hide setup and WiFi config behind some shoddy proprietary app. Cough, printers, cough.

So even if devices could be used with something else than the "supported" OS, or beyond the lifetime of said shoddy app, they cannot be set up without it.

While these companies definitely deserve to be on a wall of shame, surely some protocols also get reverse-engineered by creative users that just want things to work. Is there some place to collect and share such information in the open?