HST did nothing to the thread/forum discussing the Blade code vs Jim code debacle.
HST is not ignoring Blade, I have responded to each of his emails, and as far as I know Rich has also responded to all that he has received.
HST cannot monitor all of the posts or forums on a message board that has had as many as 393 people on it at once (May 7th of this year), has single users with as many as 22,672 posts (Rupp), gets approximately 217 new users each month to add to its current 14,646 members utilizing 237,846 posts in 33,600 threads with about 5100 new posts/month. If we tried, no work would get done - HST is still a SMALL company.
Plug-ins can be free - the author controls that.
Plug-ins can be sold by the plug-in author, but if they do not use HomeSeer's store and licensing system, why should HST resources be used to help that? If you are thinking "because it helps sell HomeSeer", then that is what the free plug-ins and scripts do much more readily than one in which the user has to buy HomeSeer AND buy the plug-in or script.
HST does not certify plug-ins. Microsoft does not certify Windows programs running on their operating system, and they can (and do) break the operating system - a poorly written plug-in will do the same. The 2.x version of HomeSeer has more protection for this than before and a more robust plug-in interface. The PRO-100 platform and software is sold to a professional dealer/installer, and it is they that arrange any sort of warranty to the homeowner. If the installer chooses a 3rd party plug-in that is not well supported or does not work right, then the installer is doing himself a disservice. This is why most professionals test their solutions thoroughly so as to not make their customers guinea pigs.
There is no intended censorship favoritism between Blade and Jim. Notice that Jim still sells DooMotion through our store only, thus HST gets reimbursed for the forum, store web page, licensing system software, and credit card fees for the purchase. The simple fact of the matter is that just like with the Blade situation earlier, we did not notice Jim selling some plug-ins at his site that are using message board resources. (See the note above about our message board activity.) Thus, now that Wayne has successfully tattled on him enough times where I actually saw it, I will have to get Jim to "return" his DooNetwork and DooCPU forums most likely. This is up to Rich and Mark, but if they choose to leave them, keep in mind the spirit in which Jim has been working with us - DooMotion is one of the most successful plug-ins in HST history, and he sells it through our store. Jim also wrote the RCS X-10 Thermostat plug-in, which was used as a framework for 2 other thermostat plug-ins, for quite the small amount, and he stuck with it through thick and thin until he got it working the very best anybody could ask for given the state of X-10 technology. Bob (Blade) on the other hand started off selling his plug-ins through our store, but then later decided that it was not fair our getting money from each sale, and so he pulled the whole thing from our store and started selling it himself. There was a lot of maintenance of the updater, licensing system, and the store that went into putting his plug-ins into those places that we never asked reimbursement for, and he also got a pretty good amount of help/advice/answers directly from Rich and I while he was writing them, again without us asking for any reimbursement for our time. Thus in my book, we have a pretty symbiotic relationship with Jim and a fairly one-way one with Blade. We do not at all harbor any ill will toward Bob after all of this - he is still a user, a developer, and a member of the HomeSeer community. He is most welcome to continue to sell his plug-ins at his site, or like Jim do a combination with some plug-ins sold through our store. The fact remains though that a plug-in that uses our licensing system has to be sold through our store, and we are going to recover the costs for that and our time to maintain the licenses, store, updater, etc. or HST will cease to exist, plain and simple.
I used to like this message board, but all I have seen in it lately (HomeSeer related at least) is that it is a haven for people who disagree with HST policies and want to rant about them. Help this BB get back to its root purpose - discuss home automation. If you have an issue with an HST policy, email Rich - he is the man behind the "The Buck Stops Here" sign. Complaining about it in a public forum is not any sort of civil disobedience that is going to get him to change something. I think anybody who has communicated with Rich will find that he is very much the voice of reason and fairness and does not come up with a policy just for the heck of it. Before you email him, think about what you are asking for, and compare HomeSeer to a few other software packages first. Are you really asking for HomeSeer to give away its software like it used to, or are you really just longing for the good old days when HS cost $29.95 and you want those days back? Intuit has a forced obsolesence program where you MUST buy a new version of their software every 2 years. In 7 years, we have had 1 upgrade. Delorme comes out with an upgrade every year, and it is not free. In each of our 7 years, we have had at least 1 free update, typically more like 3 or 4. Tons of other "free" software packages are crippled if you don't buy the "plus" version, or are adware programs. Given the above scenarios, and as an individual instead of the "employee", I like HST's policies very much.
