RE: Re: Hv multizone ir system Costing

["Nikola Kasic" <nikola@xxxxxxx>]

Graham,

I agree that Frank must feel deflated and I am very sorry because of that, especially if I contributed to that with my comments. I give him a lot of credit for his work and it was probably not designed to be commercial product anyway. He did it for himself at first place, with his needs in mind, like your home automator.

You also said that home automator is designed with HV in mind at first place and support for CM12 will be implemented later, if ever...

I still think that, asuming that there are only 40-50 HV owners in the group, you lost a lot of support that way. I had a genuine will to help with graphics and similar when we met at the London meeting, but because I cannot use it without HV, it dropped very low on my priority list.

It's similar happening to Frank, by restricting his product to HV only. If you have 40-50 people with HV, out ot those half are not interested (they don't have IR or already have some other solution in place) you end up with 20-25. Out of those half cannot contribute because of personal reasons (busy, changing jobs, baby etc.) you end up with 10 people, then some of them are not technical enough, or on long holidays, or miss the thread and you end up with 5-6 people contributing to project.

Maybe figures are not accurate, but that's the model, more or less. I don't know how many HV users we have on the group, maybe we could have a poll.

I think that problem with Frank's design was that it was not explained properly at the first place.

I visited his pages before, but I didn't have a clue what he's trying to achieve, nor that he is asking for our contribution. It looked to me that he knows what he plans to do and just reported his progress on his web site.

I know that it's a pain to spend time writing project documentation and paperwork, instead of doing the real work, but without it it's hard coordinate people and make them interested in your work.

Anyway, I don't want to critisize, just trying to help.

Good luck to both of you with your projects and hope that one day I'll be able to afford HV :-).

Then they will become interesting again.

Cheers,

Nik

-----Original Message-----
From: graham_howe [mailto:graham@xxxxxxx]
Sent: 09 August 2002 15:29
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxxSubject: [ukha_d] Re: Hv multizone ir system Costing

--- In ukha_d@y..., "Nikola Kasic" <nikola@k...> wrote:
> Somehow, I missed that request as well.
> Or it was not clear enough what that was all about :-).
> It's a shame, because Frank is restricting it's market to 10-15% of
the
> group, which have homevision (my estimate).
> In fact, it seems already that there are more people without
homevision
> interested in it.
> Maybe siteplayer module can be an answer and will transform signals
from one
> format to another.
> Nik

The following mini rant is all IMHO and not directed at any
individuals at all:-

I dare say that Frank (if he is still awake) is feeling very slightly
deflated right now. He did in numerous threads talk about the design
of his IR system. In all of those threads he solicited ideas and
opinions, but response was very poor. Andy and I found exactly the
same with HomeAutomator and I have seen lots of other projects
started here that go the same way.

The reality is that this stuff takes a lot of time and effort and is
a pretty selfless (and thankless) gesture by those who actually do
the work. Rather than worrying about the fact that the final product
is only useful to 10% or 15% of the group, how about the fact that
99% (my estimation) of the group don't contribute any
comments/opinions/requests/assistance until the product is delivered
and doesn't meet their expectations.

We have tried everything as developers, groups have been set up for
discussion, pictures and details have been posted every step of the
way, but still the feedback is negligible.

I'm sure that Frank, just like Andy and I, eventually got fed up with
the lack of response here and so designed and built what he needed.
It will soon be available for a very reasonable price and if you can
use it then I'm sure you will find it an absolute bargain! If it
doesn't meet your needs, then you know why that is.

I have said it before, and no doubt I'll say it again (usually at a
meet after a few beers) we have a tremendous amount of talent on this
group and we could produce some really useful hardware and software.
But we will get nowhere fast if we all sit back and wait for the next
gifted samaritan to do all the work and deliver it at cost.

Most of what we want to achieve in Home Automation just doesn't exist
today. How would you rather it came in to existence, as an overpriced
underspecified off the shelf solution that you had zero input in
developing, or as something that really meets your requirements at a
very reasonable price. Well guess what, we can't read minds, if you
want something then tell people, get involved, contribute and you
might be pleasantly surprised.

OK, rant over, thanks to Frank and all the other tinkerers here, and
a boot up the arse for the silent majority.

Graham



For more information: http://www.automatedhome.co.uk
Post message: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subscribe:  ukha_d-subscribe@xxxxxxx
Unsubscribe:  ukha_d-unsubscribe@xxxxxxx
List owner:  ukha_d-owner@xxxxxxx

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.

Yahoo! Groups Sponsor

ADVERTISEMENT

For more information: http://www.automatedhome.co.uk
Post message: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subscribe:  ukha_d-subscribe@xxxxxxx
Unsubscribe:  ukha_d-unsubscribe@xxxxxxx
List owner:  ukha_d-owner@xxxxxxx

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.