Re: X10 still around?

[Marc F Hult <MFHult@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, 19 Sep 2005 21:34:46 -0400, "Robert Green"
<ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
<RaOdnSFgAOJE9LLeRVn-2w@xxxxxxx>:

On Mon, 19 Sep 2005 00:51:10 GMT, Marc F Hult
<MFHult@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
<8v2si15jbjkunvlbpem78a4m29cl1p68is@xxxxxxx>:
>
>> -- Can your visiting Aunt figger out how to turn the lights on in the
>>bathroom?
>
>Another very important issue if you regularly have house guests.  Lots
>of HA setups fail this test.  Sometimes I think that HA is just another
>hobby like maintaining a salt-water fish tank.  You really have to
>enjoy fussing with a lot of different things to get it to work
>correctly.

Much of this is simply a matter of insisting on competent,
'trangenerational' ("timeless")  design.

We grew to accept the change from a simple on-off switch that was 100%
efficient to  to .. for example, an X-10  WS467.

Can we count the ways the WS467 violated good design?

It used to be that one could enter in complete darkness the majority of
rooms in a typical US house and by reaching out with the hand on the
side that the door was not hinged, find the switch and turn on the room
light without much thinking.  My house, your house, hosts'  house.

Now?

Does all this stuff foisted on gadget-crazed consumers have to be so
designed in such an ephemeral way?  (Think: how often does one need to
replace the 100% efficient wall switch most homes had installed in every
room through about the 1980's.)

Marc
Marc_F_Hult
www.ECOntrol.org