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Otoh, home automation might finally go from being a hobby to something normal people actually can use to make their lives easier. I also dabbled with X10 in the

Otoh, home automation might finally go from being a hobby to something normal people actually can use to make their lives easier. I also dabbled with X10 in the 90s and personally I can't wait for apple to come along and do it right. Needless to say, I completely disagree with your final observation.

VLM 12y ago
"normal people actually can use to make their lives easier" Normal people don't like capital investment of any sort either monetary or time, and newer technology seems not to change the total investment at all, beyond a modest increase, but only adjust the ratio between the two categories. There is also the stereotypical UI tradeoff that has existed for decades in computers of "make simple things easy" which is almost always in direct opposition to "make difficult things possible". The tradeoff in the new wave of HA products is dangerous because there is the risk of not gaining traction with the noobs because simple things do not help much, while losing all the experts by making the really productive yet difficult stuff impossible. From a "do it right" perspective, X-10 done the right way is the decade or so old Insteon system, reliable, 2way, giant address space, fast (or, faster than X-10)... "Home Automation" done the right way seems an undefined problem, and that has to be done before the solution can begin.
- hyperbovine 12y ago
  On the contrary, most people with the income to do so are in fact delighted to invest in things that simplify their lives and save them time. It's one of the pleasures of the modern era. Regarding this claim about UI tradeoffs, you clearly do not remember the past seven years. Were I to travel back to 2006 and hand you an iPhone 5, you would think it was a gift from some distant alien civilization. The point being that great design continually defines upward what "make simple things easy" means. It is not diametrically opposed to making the difficult things possible.

VLM 12y ago

"normal people actually can use to make their lives easier" Normal people don't like capital investment of any sort either monetary or time, and newer technology seems not to change the total investment at all, beyond a modest increase, but only adjust the ratio between the two categories. There is also the stereotypical UI tradeoff that has existed for decades in computers of "make simple things easy" which is almost always in direct opposition to "make difficult things possible". The tradeoff in the new wave of HA products is dangerous because there is the risk of not gaining traction with the noobs because simple things do not help much, while losing all the experts by making the really productive yet difficult stuff impossible. From a "do it right" perspective, X-10 done the right way is the decade or so old Insteon system, reliable, 2way, giant address space, fast (or, faster than X-10)... "Home Automation" done the right way seems an undefined problem, and that has to be done before the solution can begin.

hyperbovine 12y ago
On the contrary, most people with the income to do so are in fact delighted to invest in things that simplify their lives and save them time. It's one of the pleasures of the modern era. Regarding this claim about UI tradeoffs, you clearly do not remember the past seven years. Were I to travel back to 2006 and hand you an iPhone 5, you would think it was a gift from some distant alien civilization. The point being that great design continually defines upward what "make simple things easy" means. It is not diametrically opposed to making the difficult things possible.