jeditekunum
Active Member
Work2Play said:I'll just add a few points...
Most of that is the perspective of manufacturers and dealers/installers.
Of course there are businesses and many people who can afford pro installs, monitoring, support, and ongoing hand-holding. There are many people who cannot - or will not. Dealers/installers never would have benefited from them to begin with so they aren't losing anything if manufacturers become more friendly to DIYers. No doubt there are a lot of customers that no longer see the value of pro setups and will transition to DIY. Lost business for dealers/installers but that ship has sailed and its not coming back. You can't expect to have decreasing value (no innovation or reduction in cost) and expect things to go on forever.
I seriously doubt any published API for home automation is going to change the picture one bit. Those that want the API will simply not buy a product without one. Manufacturers and dealers/installers are kidding themselves if they think the lack of API availability helps them in any way.
The world changes and nobody can stop it. My parents owned a mom-n-pop TV/appliance business many years ago. See any of those anymore? Not very different from the typical alarm system dealer/installer. They too did "installs" of TV antennas, wiring, etc.
Lots of home services have shifted to mostly DIY. Plumbers. Electricians. People can't afford the time and money it takes to hire a "pro" to do simple things. The pros don't even want to do the small jobs anymore. Hell, even getting a lawyer to review a home construction contract is difficult.
Work2Play said:I'd love to see a new panel come along - something up to date...
Interlogix UltraSync Modular Hub seems pretty modern to me.