Homeseer JDS Stargate Plug-in Price Increase

[upstatemike]

I see Homeseer has raised the price of their JDS Stargate plug-in from FREE to $59.95. This makes it one of the more expensive plugins Homeseer offers. It should also be noted that the plugin is still in Beta and has some unresolved issues that are still being worked out.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

I see Homeseer has raised the price of their JDS Stargate plug-in from FREE to $59.95. This makes it one of the more expensive plugins Homeseer offers. It should also be noted that the plugin is still in Beta and has some unresolved issues that are still being worked out.

Of course the following is just my opinion but there seems to be a trend these days of just about anyone providing software. Get the product out as quickly as you can, even if the pie is half baked, then let the public perform free beta trouble shooting/testing services for you, fix said product, then reap the rewards in further sales.

I have seen this happen to all the products I use (not just HomeSeer). Whatever happened to "in-house" beta testing?

This is the main reason I use legacy software for my home automation applications. I just don't have the time right now (starting different job position/function) to fix/figure out/trouble shoot my home automation system.

 

[alarmguy]

Just MY opinion,

But having the public (after bying it) beta test your software (Microsoft) h34r: makes $$$$. Then you can sell it again, and again, and again and so on . Not everything is Right in a not so perfect world . Again just my opinion!

 

[Dean Roddey]

We certainly take pride in not doing this, so there are some companies that understand that this is not acceptable (except of course in those cases where some customers really want to get the early code for whatever reason.)

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

We certainly take pride in not doing this, so there are some companies that understand that this is not acceptable (except of course in those cases where some customers really want to get the early code for whatever reason.)

Not to take this thread to far off topic h34r: , but I have to admit Dean, I have not seen this type of complaint/comment from any CQC users!

Again, I just call them as I see them!

 

[damage]

time for those jds users to move up to starCOM h34r:

http://www.getstarcom.com

disclaimer: i have no connection w/ Pine Tree Systems other than being an extremely satisfied starCOM user (and the only one on this board, but hopefully that will change soon ). and i hammered the crap out of sC when it was in alpha & beta, and with a several other sC users, we helped make sC rock solid!

 

[upstatemike]

time for those jds users to move up to starCOM h34r:

http://www.getstarcom.com

disclaimer: i have no connection w/ Pine Tree Systems other than being an extremely satisfied starCOM user (and the only one on this board, but hopefully that will change soon ). and i hammered the crap out of sC when it was in alpha & beta, and with a several other sC users, we helped make sC rock solid!

It says that page was last modified on June 25th, 2004. Is StarCOM still actively being developed and supported?

 

[damage]

that's when that front page was created. there haven't been any updates in about a year because there hasn't been any bugs at all since then. bill, the developer, is currently working on 2 versions of sC. one will allow connections to up to 4 jds controllers simultaneously as well as other undisclosed features. the 2nd version is being developed for the commercial applications, allowing control of up to 32 controllers. initially, it will support jds only but he is planning on adding support for other vendors.

 

[upstatemike]

that's when that front page was created. there haven't been any updates in about a year because there hasn't been any bugs at all since then. bill, the developer, is currently working on 2 versions of sC. one will allow connections to up to 4 jds controllers simultaneously as well as other undisclosed features. the 2nd version is being developed for the commercial applications, allowing control of up to 32 controllers. initially, it will support jds only but he is planning on adding support for other vendors.

Not sure I will ever need 4 Stargates but I would be interested in how you use HAL with StarCOM. One of the things I was going to do with Homeseer was Voice Recognition but HAL (or HomeVoice) might be a better choice for that anyway. Looking at your diagram you use something called ActiveX to communicate from HAL to StarCOM to Stargate. What exactly is this X factor and what do I have to do to make it Active?

 

[Rupp]

Of course the following is just my opinion but there seems to be a trend these days of just about anyone providing software. Get the product out as quickly as you can, even if the pie is half baked, then let the public perform free beta trouble shooting/testing services for you, fix said product, then reap the rewards in further sales.

I have seen this happen to all the products I use (not just HomeSeer). Whatever happened to "in-house" beta testing?

This is the main reason I use legacy software for my home automation applications. I just don't have the time right now (starting different job position/function) to fix/figure out/trouble shoot my home automation system.

BSR,
I believe the reason HomeSeer does this is because there is simply no way for them to replicate all the configurations that a user can have.

 

[damage]

Not sure I will ever need 4 Stargates but I would be interested in how you use HAL with StarCOM. One of the things I was going to do with Homeseer was Voice Recognition but HAL (or HomeVoice) might be a better choice for that anyway. Looking at your diagram you use something called ActiveX to communicate from HAL to StarCOM to Stargate. What exactly is this X factor and what do I have to do to make it Active?

activex: http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/A/ActiveX.html

currently i execute scripts for certain phrases hal recognizes. the scripts call starCOM (ie "turn on nook light"):

lights.js "NookLight" 1

where lights.js is:

var Devices;
Devices = new ActiveXObject("starCOMplus.PTSDevices"); Devices.X10Devices.Item(WScript.Arguments.Item(0)).State=WScript.Arguments.Item(
1);
Devices = null

it's pretty crude but it gets VR into my system.

hal has an activex scripting engine built in now (called hali). i haven't upgraded to that version but if i did, i'd be able to call starCOM directly from hal and i'd be able to call hal directly from starCOM.

 

[upstatemike]

damage-

Looks like the situation with the JDS plugin is deteriorating quickly. Even some of the biggest supporters are posting violent rants! So I guess I need to look more closely at HAL and Starcom.

I assume you have StarCOM on a different PC from the one you use for WinEVM? And using a stargate com port other than com1? In your example you say you "call" lights.js... does that mean HAL can run a progam in response to a voice command? What is a .js file: JavaScript?

Sorry for the dumb questions but I really want to understand how a HAL/StarCOM combination would work. I mostly want to set flags and feed variables to Stargate based on voice commands.

 

[damage]

i run sC on the same PC as winevm, but i don't run both @ the same time since i only have a TC+ (only 1 serial port). i'm not up to date on the specifics for a stargate installation though. HAL can execute apps in response to voice commands. .js is jscript, similar to javascript although i believe microsoft has changed some things in it (?) you can also use vbscript (.vbs). these aren't dumb questions. i asked a lot of these questions when i was starting out w/ sC too.

 

[upstatemike]

OK, so the main question would be: Does StarCOM need to be on COM1 of the Stargate to use the data stream normally sent to WinEVM? In other words can WinEVM and StarCOM be running at the same time or no?

 

[damage]

i found a message from the summer where bill says sC can run off any stargate port...