How much longer until the UI on the desktop is fixed?

Sonos clearly don't see a long term future for the desktop controller. It's quite possible that Sonos sees no future for the desktop.

The desktop controller is a dead man walking. It may yet spend several years on Death Row, but there is no right of appeal.

I am not saying I like that, but it seems clear that's the way it is.

I haven't been using the OS X desktop for a while because you all crippled it and made the UI impossible to read. I understand that the 20 year-olds love their 'night mode', but a lot of the rest of us can NOT read the text when it's white on black/dark background. Everything is double-vision when it's like that. It's not usable. I work on my mac. I shouldn't have to use the tiny phone interface for sonos, when I'm sitting working on my mac. It needs to have full functionality and a usable UI.

When will this be fixed?

As others have stated, there is nothing to "fix". They are intentionally sun setting the PC/Mac controller in favor of mobile apps and voice control. You may not like that decision, but the decision was made. Thus, the PC/Mac controller is working as designed.

Hi everyone,

Right now we don't have any plans to share regarding the menus on the desktop controller. I'll send a feature request in to the team to add the administrative menus back.

Hi everyone,

Right now we don't have any plans to share regarding the menus on the desktop controller. I'll send a feature request in to the team to add the administrative menus back.

Hi Jeff. I was told the same thing 6 months ago about the functionality and the interface. If it's not going to happen, please be honest about it. If that's the case, when will Sonos begin it's buy-back program so we can recoup the thousands we've spent on the now broken system?

Broken system? Because you now have one fewer free controller option? Surely this is a wind-up?

Hi Jeff. I was told the same thing 6 months ago about the functionality and the interface. If it's not going to happen, please be honest about it. If that's the case, when will Sonos begin it's buy-back program so we can recoup the thousands we've spent on the now broken system?

Sonos speakers hold their value pretty well. You are much more likely to get a decent return by selling them on the used market than you would be in an attempt to convince Sonos they need to buy back the hardware you bought because you don't like the desktop software that's freely available on the website.

Broken system? Because you now have one fewer free controller option? Surely this is a wind-up?

There are many people who don't have a smart phone who use only the desktop which is now crippled. For me, the white on black background makes it unusable. I see double. It literally hurts my eyes and causes vision problems. While I have a phone, the interface is tiny and even with my reading glasses, the design is difficult at best (I've been in software dev. for more than 30 years, and know more than a little about design, development usability, etc). If it can't be used, yes, effectively, it's a broken system.

Hi Aikane, thanks for sharing your feedback. As Misfit mentioned, we did discuss this quite a bit in the thread he linked. Currently, we're focused on improving the mobile experience and bringing new features to Sonos. The desktop controller wasn't being used as much as these devices, and so we've removed the underused settings from it, and will be retaining the desktop controller as a way to control playback, grouping, and other basic controls. I can't speak to future development and there aren't any future plans for the desktop controller to mention today.

We are however working on a Sonos API for developers who can use it to make their own software and hardware to control Sonos. To learn more about that, check out this page.

...
The desktop controller wasn't being used as much as these devices, and so we've removed the underused settings from it,
...
We are however working on a Sonos API for developers who can use it to make their own software and hardware to control Sonos. To learn more about that, check out this page.

While the API is good news, it's probably too little, way too late. This should have been done more than a decade ago. You guys are very slow to move, then you're intransigent.

It's unfortunate that you've completely discounted the desktop-users segment of your users. You now force updates out onto people who are not willing to be your beta testers, but that's exactly what you've made them. Never install a point-zero release, but you don't give people the choice. You're pushing out defects that people shouldn't have to deal with if they choose not to. You're making mobile devices useless as a controller if the owner chooses (for good reasons or bad) to not update their mobile device. Not everyone has a mobile device at all. Of those who do, not everyone updates to a new one every couple of years. By forcing the updates, then not supporting the older device/OS, you're telling these people they don't matter. You hold all of the controls. Don't offer support for the older versions if you need to, but stop forcing the updates and breaking what people have paid hundreds or thousands of dollars for. I understand that forced deployments is a new paradigm in software development, but it's an expensive failure for the consumers.

You're not providing any options. Do you know what would be a great option? If you had a fully functional desktop version of the app. If I have to use the iphone for the admin functions, I can do it. I don't like it. The interface sucks, and it's tiny and I have big fingers. What's killing me is that you've made the UI on the desktop unusable with the white on black, and you provide no alternates. I asked 6 months ago. Others have been asking, but you're intransigent. Users be damned, you know better, and you won't budge.

As I've said elsewhere, I've been in software development for more than 30 years, which, I suspect is longer than the people makes these decisions have even been alive. There are bad decisions being made by people who don't know better. You need to hire people who have actual experience, and not just ''enthusiasm'.

BTW, thank you for the response. It's not what I, or a lot of other people want to hear, and really not the story you should be telling, but at least I think it's honest.

Good grief. :8