Look at Wifi.
Back in the late 90's we had a few perfectly working wireless LAN technologies. One of them was Symbol's Spectrum 24. It was not exactly 802.11b compliant, but in an Infrastructure AP environment it worked OK - if you could afford it. Any resemblance to the situation of lightning control today?
Who said that we needed an interoperable standard to build critical mass to make wireless LAN a commodity? The market said it, with their money as soon as the vendors made the products available. Has interoperability been a factor on the business success for Linksys? You bet it. Has it been a factor in the way that we, the people, operate our networks? Of course. Interoperability means money for smart businesses, and an higher value for consumers (in addition to a higher quality of life, in the case of the Wifi example).
I don't know, but I think that there is a few businesses that would benefit of creating new markets of the size of the Wifi market (even a fraction of it). Actually, they need it badly right now. On the other side, I as a consumer, always need higher value in what I buy, and I also need a higher quality of life. Yes, I sustain my argument that the market need this. I don't understand how to argue against a good thing (or say that we don't need a good thing).
Let me clarify, I'm not defending existing solutions against Zigbee. I just suggest (if possible), to wait some time to see if Zigbee will actually become an interoperable standard. If not, just evaluate each solution on its merits, considering the factor of vendor lock-in. Just as we have been forced to do for the past 30 years. Yes, we have become experts dealing with the current situation. And a few of us are living of it. Just as big mainframe business lived of a lot of businesses until the PC (interoperable), made computing a commodity. Anybody against that? Yes, the few businesses that didn't adapt to the change in the market.
There are also many examples of we being forced to deal without interoperability, like the IR example. Yes. Is that stopping other people trying to solve that problem? No. Even Zigbee alliance is investing time an money to solve that problem. Because the market needs an interoperable remove control system for out appliance. I don't say it. It is the same Zigbee Alliance.
Signal15 - I'd recommend waiting for the second vendor announcing interoperability. And some reviews of interoperability tests. Having a single 'interoperable' vendor does not qualify in my book.
Hey guys, I also hope Zigbee to be the winner. But I cannot stop wishing interoperability. Please don't blame me for wishing a good thing.
Back in the late 90's we had a few perfectly working wireless LAN technologies. One of them was Symbol's Spectrum 24. It was not exactly 802.11b compliant, but in an Infrastructure AP environment it worked OK - if you could afford it. Any resemblance to the situation of lightning control today?
Who said that we needed an interoperable standard to build critical mass to make wireless LAN a commodity? The market said it, with their money as soon as the vendors made the products available. Has interoperability been a factor on the business success for Linksys? You bet it. Has it been a factor in the way that we, the people, operate our networks? Of course. Interoperability means money for smart businesses, and an higher value for consumers (in addition to a higher quality of life, in the case of the Wifi example).
I don't know, but I think that there is a few businesses that would benefit of creating new markets of the size of the Wifi market (even a fraction of it). Actually, they need it badly right now. On the other side, I as a consumer, always need higher value in what I buy, and I also need a higher quality of life. Yes, I sustain my argument that the market need this. I don't understand how to argue against a good thing (or say that we don't need a good thing).
Let me clarify, I'm not defending existing solutions against Zigbee. I just suggest (if possible), to wait some time to see if Zigbee will actually become an interoperable standard. If not, just evaluate each solution on its merits, considering the factor of vendor lock-in. Just as we have been forced to do for the past 30 years. Yes, we have become experts dealing with the current situation. And a few of us are living of it. Just as big mainframe business lived of a lot of businesses until the PC (interoperable), made computing a commodity. Anybody against that? Yes, the few businesses that didn't adapt to the change in the market.
There are also many examples of we being forced to deal without interoperability, like the IR example. Yes. Is that stopping other people trying to solve that problem? No. Even Zigbee alliance is investing time an money to solve that problem. Because the market needs an interoperable remove control system for out appliance. I don't say it. It is the same Zigbee Alliance.
Signal15 - I'd recommend waiting for the second vendor announcing interoperability. And some reviews of interoperability tests. Having a single 'interoperable' vendor does not qualify in my book.
Hey guys, I also hope Zigbee to be the winner. But I cannot stop wishing interoperability. Please don't blame me for wishing a good thing.