RE: EIB Instabus

["Ian Lowe" <ian@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Martin Wonders [mailto:martin.wonders@xxxxxxx]
>
>I have to disagree, EIB is an open standard and I've seen the spec on
sale
>for $350,

That's a kinda contradiction in terms ;)

To get access to the spec you have to become a member - the cheapest one
being an "I" Class member - an "interested party".

To be a member, you have to enter into two contracts - the "Trademark
Agreement" which says you won't use the EIB/KNX logos or name on any
product which hasn't been submitted for certification (which means
becoming a more expensive class of member!) and the "IPR Licence
Agreement" which is 110% tight non-disclosure to anyone outside the
club.

So, you have to pay big bucks to see it, you have to agree that you'll
pay even bigger bucks if you want to release a product using it, and you
are forbidden on pain of pointy sticks from letting anyone else in the
world read the documents they give you.

They state on the KNX website that it's "100% open" and what they
seem
to mean is that the technology is unencumbered by IP patents other than
their own - not the same thing at all.

Now I understand that this is how many standards organisations operate -
but this is emphatically NOT an "Open" Standard.

One thing - I'm not knocking EIB/KNX technically (I can't, as I can't
see the specification to evaluate it!!) but it's more closed then
microsoft's stuff ever was, and IMO, that means that it's uptake will be
niche at best, preventing it from getting a real foothold in the
marketplace before REAL open standards come along.

>which is peanuts for manufacturers. EIB has been integrated into
>the new Konnex standard with all of its functionality intact as far as
I
>can see.

Well, certification costs a helluva lot more than EUR350 - more like
EUR2000 per product which is, of course, in addition to CE marking -
something that effectively prevents the little guys from ever entering
this marketplace, in turn reducing innovation and cool new toys.

>I do agree that IP and ethernet are the future, but all we can do for
now >is wire and wait, using cbus, instabus or X10.

Yeah, despite the negative tone, these guys are pretty much the only
show in town right now: as with C-Bus I imagine it will be a good
solution for the next five-ten years until Ethernet everywhere is
trivial to install (and the IP based systems are much more mature)

I.