A service system permits remote personnel to service a local embedded device. In an exemplary application, the device being diagnosed communicates with a local computer system that interfaces to a remote computer system via, for example, the Internet. A service program may be downloaded to the local computer system that enables diagnostic interaction with the device by the remote computer system. In some instances, the device is automatically queried for model number and/or other identifying information such that the service program is matched to the particular device being diagnosed. In other embodiments, a local user might, for example, visit a designated Web page, enter identifying information, and the appropriate diagnostic program, such as a JAVA applet, downloads to the local system. The downloaded applet may be used by the remote computer system to, for example, query the device, control its operation, re-program it, receive real-time operational data, etc.