Re: Time for HA, finally. Thinking Insteon. Mulling this for 20 years. What is best?

[Marc_F_Hult <MFHult@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 10 Jan 2007 06:37:23 -0800, "Dennis" <djr-google.djrlar@xxxxxxxx> wrote in
message  <1168439843.367082.87850@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:

>Robert,  Thanks,  My experience communicating with ELK support last
>year was certainly positive and supports your comments.  Maybe I'll
>send them another question and see what the results are.  I tried this
>with HAI and got a response containing the text from their website
>indicating they did not provide any DIY support, and to go to my
>dealer.  I thought I would give it a try, so found Smart Home listed on
>the HAI site as a dealer for DIY users. On the Smart Home site I then
>found a statement indicating that for HAI products, that I should
>contact the manufacturer for all technical support.  "Catch-22 anyone".
> That killed HAI as an option.

When there is an option between buying from a dealer/distributor and directly
from the maker/manufacturer, I tend to opt for the direct purchase even, as
is usually the case,  it costs a nickel more. Not foolproof, but this
typically eliminates the Catch-22 unless the company is dysfunctional for
some reason.

With the respect to Elk M1G support, I registered the serial number of my
unit and _then_ asked detailed questions about the interface coding and
received detailed, informative answers from someone whose name I recognized
and who was apparently competent and involved with the product.

But nothing quite beats having the creator and owner of a product in the
front line of support even if it is only from time to time.  BruceR's
experience with J.D.S. at JDS is a good example. Bill Nelson's participation
in the CyberHouse forums/discussion is/was another. Having the author report
back that "It works [this way] because [I did this] in order to [reason]" can
be invaluable -- especially when s/he is exceptionally competent. (Not to
turn anyone's ears red, but that's one of CQS's charms, as it were ;-)
Knowing _why_ things work they way they do helps greatly in understanding
what they do ... The 'why' is now mostly inaccessible for commercial software
at the user/retail level. For some/most software, it simply to complicated
and(or) convoluted,  or legacy-constrained. Witness HomeSeer, which has
origins as an overweight, X-10-entric application -- and still seems one at
the level of the user interface.

... Marc
Marc_F_hult
www.ECOntrol.org