Re: Ademco Vista Programming

[Frank Olson <Use_the_email_links@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Roland Moore wrote:
> Some manufacturers like Bosch and Electronic Lines don't seem to have any
> security on their web sites. Anyone can see everything. Some like Napco,
> Honeywell, DMP, and Paradox for example have various levels of security for
> signing into their site. Bass says that purchasers of DIY need access to the
> manufacturer's web site the same way a dealer would need site access to aid
> in installation of their own equipment. Since I have no experience in the
> DIY market I am in no position to refute or support that notion. My thought
> is that certain panels may be easy enough for a DIY to program. The
> Honeywell Vista 128FB as well as many others would not be on my list of
> panels that a DIY person should attempt to program. I don't know how
> Honeywell feels about Bass posting the login to their site. It might be
> interesting to see what their official position is on the subject. Has
> anyone asked? Honeywell cetainly doesn't mind it enought to stop selling to
> Bass it seems. If Honeywell is taking money from Bass aren't their resources
> available to him as a customer of Honeywell? If Honeywell were truly worried
> about unauthorized web site access they could use Microsoft WebTS and/or an
> individual user name and password logins instead of a common login. In the
> end who answers the question as to whether or not Bass is responsible to
> protect Honeywell's interests in limiting access to their web site, or even
> if that is something that Honeywell actually cares about. How much
> responsibility one puts on Bass in any case seems to me to be an individual
> matter. In this regard Honeywell is not left without recourse and can chose
> to choke down access to their site when they decide it is necessary. It
> seems to me if Bass were truly interested in what anyone else thought he
> would merely copy wholesale the web sites of the equipment manufacturers he
> sold and incorporate it (with permission) in a web site of his own. Bass
> could then lock his own site down in a more aggressive fashion (so no one
> here would see it) and use exclusive access to his site as a sales tool for
> the DIY folks he sells to. I don't know anything about the DIY market, but I
> would think the DIY web FAQ would not be the same as a regular dealer web
> FAQ. I am not trying to tell Bass how to run his business, just stating what
> makes sense to me. Honeywell itself is not without its own critics, like
> Napco, that think that selling to dealers and competing with dealers at the
> same time is unethical. Seems like one would have to make his or her own
> judgements about how ethical or unethical Bass is compared to Honeywell and
> which do you wish to support. Honeywell is a $30 billion company. As a
> pratical matter even if Bass hated Honeywell as much as some who post here
> seem to hate Bass, I doubt he could think of any way to damage Honeywell.
> Bass states that the reason he posts the login is to help his customers,
> Bass doesn't mention any interest in hurting Honeywell. I don't think
> Honeywell is too concerned about Bass or anyone else that posts here having
> any real impact on that $30 billion figure.



Bass could just as easily have emailed the information to the OP instead
of posting the password and user login in a public forum.