Re: Software feature set for automation

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"Marc F Hult" <MFHult@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:b9ige1llgs2q4qurfqa9h0nle86h3eee7i@xxxxxxxxxx
>
> I wasn't referring to X-10-only software such as ActiveHome. The software
I
> mentioned can/could accomplish lighting dimming and other X-10 functions
> with other, more reliable hardware. I do agree (if this is your point)
that
> X-10 has contributed to the failure of HA software to thrive.

Yes - that's one point.  The larger point, I think, is that HA is not yet
"plug and play" at the HW and FW level and that excludes most John and Jane
Doe's from adopting it.

When PC's went from a command line to a "point and click" interface, a lot
of people who had been sitting on the sidelines finally bought a PC.  When
network HW and SW components became largely self-configuring, people
starting to link their machines together.  That also happened because the
previous price point of several $K for Netware, NICS and hubs dropped to the
cost of a Windows license and some cheap HW.  I would say that HA is still
somewhere in the TRS-80 era of the PC.  Enormous potential but diffused by
lots of manufacturers running off in different directions.

People who really like to tinker are using HA, but no company with the name
recognition and credibility of IBM has entered the field for keeps.  IBM's
entry is what broke the "ceiling" that existed in the PC field and opened up
the entire market.  What's worrisome is that the communication protocols for
HA seem to be multiplying like crazy, and that will probably only serve to
retard progress in the field.  I still hope that ZigBee will provide a
standardized appliance platform that will allow people far more remote
interaction capabilities than are now possible with "dumb" appliances.

--
Bobby G.