Re: Insteon open source WAS: Something else

[nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Dave Houston)]

Neil Cherry <njc@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>I think the code will be OK, I had spoken with them about that very
>subject. I made it very clear that my comments would contain various
>information that is contained in the docs. The Insteon rep had no
>problem with that. I'm still puzzled by their lack of Open Source.
>They seem to think that they have and open product. The one thing I
>don't want to see right now is their SDK document posted to the
>internet, at least not until I can get them to OK it first (that
>wasn't aimed at you Dave).

It certainly seems to violate the letter of the license. But, I think the
license is deliberately ambiguous so they can say (as they have) things
like, "It really doesn't mean THAT." and "You cannot do THAT."

As we discussed before, I think publishing the documentation and then
charging a one-time fee for support (with various tiers) would work much
better for most developers without increasing Smarthome's support burden. Of
course, their corporate developers might object.

For all its defects, X10 did a good job in this area with details of the
protocol published early on in Circuit Cellar (with Dave Rye's help). Of
course, they've now gone the other way with the CM15A.

>This may be the first useful thing to come out of the book. :-) I'm
>still not used to that title. But since I've got I'd better flaunt it
>while it's worth something.

So, what have you published lately? ;)

Of course, you'll be remembered longer if you made some serious errors. ;)

>> Yesterday, I received two upgraded 2414S units to replace the two I had. I
>> don't yet know what the upgrade entails but you probably should get the
>> upgrade (it's free) before doing much coding.
>>
>I know this is one thing that really bothers me. I'm beginning to
>wonder about their quality control and the control of the protocol (3
>big changes to the way you talk to the PLC, not nice). I'll talk to
>Bruce to see if he's had any experience with this kind of thing. Maybe
>he know's an Open Source expert that can help. otherwise it may be off
>to UPB me.

On the one hand they do have an excellent policy of replacing defective
units or upgrading units for free. On the other hand, they seem to have more
need for such a policy than do most manufacturers.