The Rationale
When we start out in HA we are excited to be able to control anything with some degree of automation. The simple things were exciting and made us lust for more. The typical route is the X10 ActiveHome that segways into Homeseer, MisterHome, or other PC-based automation engine. These provide more head room for growth and many possibilities that had not existed before.
The natural tendency is to pile on more and more goodies. While the incremental additions are not significant, the accumulation of these tends to slow the overall system down. Even worse the system tends to become fragile and dependability wanes. When that first goodie was added it worked great. Now with n goodies installed it takes some serious thought if adding the n+1th is worth the risk.
The desire for continued automation exists, but just as ActiveHome reached its practical limit, the central-HA-brain, also can reach its practical limit. While there may still be a Master of the household, the days of shared responsibility are upon us.
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When we start out in HA we are excited to be able to control anything with some degree of automation. The simple things were exciting and made us lust for more. The typical route is the X10 ActiveHome that segways into Homeseer, MisterHome, or other PC-based automation engine. These provide more head room for growth and many possibilities that had not existed before.
The natural tendency is to pile on more and more goodies. While the incremental additions are not significant, the accumulation of these tends to slow the overall system down. Even worse the system tends to become fragile and dependability wanes. When that first goodie was added it worked great. Now with n goodies installed it takes some serious thought if adding the n+1th is worth the risk.
The desire for continued automation exists, but just as ActiveHome reached its practical limit, the central-HA-brain, also can reach its practical limit. While there may still be a Master of the household, the days of shared responsibility are upon us.
Click here to view the article
